


Worth a shot

by blackkitty9, CatherineEmbrace



Category: Red vs Blue
Genre: OC Story, Reds and blues are freelancers, red vs blue au, set before blood gulch
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-19
Updated: 2018-07-19
Packaged: 2018-08-16 00:26:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 41
Words: 77,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8079670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackkitty9/pseuds/blackkitty9, https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatherineEmbrace/pseuds/CatherineEmbrace
Summary: West Australia is the new medic aboard the Mother of Invention, where she is the new battle medic for Project Freelancer. Here she'll meet a number of odd characters during her career as a freelancer and medic.(I really have no clue since this is my first time posting something on the site.)





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally an attempt at writing a story for a friend.  
> Hope you enjoy!

The Mother of Invention. By god, it was a monstrous ship. As the pelican slowly approached the grey, hulking behemoth, the woman being carried inside smiled. She’d seen bigger ships before; of course, working as an on field army medic-slash-doctor during the ongoing Covenant War meant that she’d seen much bigger and survived much worse. But it still excited her, seeing the huge ship.  
My new home.  
Of course, it wasn’t going to be all play and no work. The woman had been selected for the special program based on her skill with melee weapons and, of course, her extensive medical skills – she was an experienced battle medic with an extensive knowledge of the human body and injuries. She was going to become the on-board doctor, and when missions were being conducted, the medic. The woman sighed, glancing down at her slacks. Grey and dull, they made her blend in with the inside of the pelican. She was supposed to have been given a new suit of armour, but apparently there had been a delay. She already had her new code name: Agent West Australia. It was where she had been born, anyway. Most of the other agents were named after the United States but most of the names had been already taken up. So she had been given a choice. That had been hers.  
“All passengers, we’ll be docking in a few minutes. So get your stuff ready and don’t leave anything.”  
West snorted. She didn’t have much, anyway, only a few belongings that she had been lugging around for the past few years. A photo of her family, her dog tags, a few books and her favourite necklace. It had been a present from her family on her 16th birthday. Black cord, with a silver charm, West wore it everywhere she went, along with her dog tags. She sighed and shook her head. No point in getting emotional when there was so much else to focus on.  
So she leant back, closed her eyes, and waited for the pelican to dock. 

A few jolting minutes later, the pelican had completed its landing sequence and allowed the wide, metal doors to slide open. West squinted. It was very bright in the hanger compared to the dim inside of her transport. When she managed to focus again, she noticed two men standing side by side at the entrance to the pelican. The darker skinned one – the Councillor, if she remembered correctly – was a psychiatrist, and had assessed her when considering her for the role. Project Freelancer was already a few years old, so West was slightly apprehensive about working with people that would have already been working together. It didn’t matter. She would get over it.  
The taller man, however… West had only seen him through a video feed. Relatively tall, with grey at his temples and a black goatee… that was the Director. He was imposing, carrying himself with a distinct air of authority. He seemed like he would expect everyone to obey him.  
West stared at him while exiting the pelican. Coming to stop a metre or so in front of him, she extended her hand to shake. When he didn’t offer a response, only a cold glare, West retreated her hand. If he was this cold, West was surprised that he had even come to see her arrive. The Councillor extended his hand, however, shaking West’s outstretched palm.  
“Agent WA. Good to see that you arrived safely.” His voice was probing, calculating. West had seen that with other psychiatrists that she had met. They always wanted to get under your skin, to see what made you tick. West kept her face passive, nodding once. “Your armour is ready, and the Director wishes to see you in your initial trial in the training floor.”  
The Director nodded. “The Councillor here has told me about your fighting skill, Agent. You can go retrieve your armour and meet Agent Washington in the arena. He will be your sparring partner.” He had a rather severe southern drawl, after which he finished, nodded stiffly, and stalked off.  
West snorted, watching him go. Seems like a real tight-ass. The Councillor, once the Director had disappeared, motioned to a doorway across the hanger. He started walking, West keeping tight at his heels, rucksack slung over one shoulder.  
“Your armour is in the armoury. You can get equipped, and then we will go to the training floor. Agent Washington is our battle rifle expert, but you will complete a number of rounds, such as hand to hand and bo staffs. Your armour doesn’t have any specific equipment, but that may be added on later, once you complete your training for the advanced healing unit. You worked with these armour models in the war, correct?”  
The woman nodded, not saying anything. The Councillor unnerved her.  
As they approached the armour, the sounds of fighting started ringing down the hallways. The Councillor frowned, once, before entering the huge room. Running about fifteen metres down and ten across, the armoury seemed to hold the entire ship’s weapon supply, including both conventional weapons and alien weaponry. West whistled. There was some real firepower in that room.  
Off to the side, a tall casket held a certain set of armour. Just taller than her, a white set of armour stood before her, the red markings on the shoulders and legs indicating her as a medic. It took West’s breath away, and suddenly she was itching to try it out. That armour was hers.  
The Councillor nodded. “There’s a room next door. You can get changed in there.” He then retreated from the room, giving her some semblance of privacy. West grinned. Moving the casket to the other room, she quickly stripped, pulling on the black suit that would make her suit pressurised when activated. Slowly and carefully, she pulled each piece of armour on, finally pulling the white and red helmet over her head. It fit like a glove, and when she activated her armour’s helmet display, she smiled. It had been a while since she had been in any sort of armour. It was almost thrilling being back in the saddle, so to speak.  
When she exited the armoury, the Councillor looked her over once, nodded, before moving down the steel grey corridor. Towards the training area, she supposed. As they got closer, the noises from before started increasing in volume, until they were echoing down the hall. The Councillor moved to a certain door, when suddenly they were in a small balcony overlooking the training area. A robotic, female voice was keeping score while two figures in armour were sparring. The first individual was a big, stocky soldier, with fully white armour. His helmet was… interesting, with his visor taking up the majority of his helmet. He was much slower than the other fighter, who was darting around in black and green armour on what seemed to be… prosthetic legs? That was unusual.  
Suddenly, the black and green soldier seemed to stumble and collapse slightly, staggering. You couldn’t hear anything from the room, but it seemed that the soldier was in pain. The other agent went to them immediately, picking them up. West watched on worriedly. Was the other soldier alright?  
The Councillor seemed to know what she was thinking. “That’s Agent Cerberus. He’s fine. This happens every so often when his prosthetics play up. Agent Maine will help him repair his legs.”  
West sighed. “So long as he’s alright. I might have a look later…” She’d seen her fair share of prosthetics in the Covenant war. At that moment, the Director decided to walk in, with another Agent in tow. He was tall, about as tall as West herself, with grey armour with yellow strips. He was wearing his helmet, so West couldn’t read his face.  
“Agent West Australia, this is Agent Washington. If you two will go down to the floor, we may start this test.” The Director’s word was firm. The two agents both nodded, moving over to the elevator that would take them to the training floor. Once inside, Washington seemed to relax, body posture becoming more casual. He stuck out his hand almost immediately.  
“I’m Agent Washington, but you can call me Wash for short. You’re our new medic, aren’t you?”  
West smiled, shaking his hand in response. “Yeah. And doctor. I’m Agent West Australia.” She rubbed the back of her helmet for a moment, thinking. “You can probably call me West. Or WA, if it’s easier.”  
“Okay, WA. How good are you at fighting?”  
The doors of the elevator slid open. West grinned, stepping out. “I guess you’ll find out, won’t you. Just because I’m a medic, doesn’t mean I can’t fight. Don’t go easy.”  
Wash shrugged, moving to the opposite end of the floor. West could still hear him clearly through her helmet’s mic. “If you won’t go easy, I won’t either.”  
Above the two, the Director’s voice boomed out. “Agent Washington, Agent West Australia, you will complete six rounds; two hand to hand rounds, two bo staff rounds and two with pistols and the locking paint. Is that understood?”  
West nodded, looking upwards at the massive screen. Across it, it read: Agent Wash and Agent WA, each with a zero under their names. And just above the screen, West could see that more agents had come to watch the fight, some watching more intently than others.  
“Begin. Round one.” A mechanical, female voice chimed off. Wash and West circled each other. They had both been in enough fights to be wary of an unknown opponent. West sighed. This was getting them nowhere.  
“Fuck it.”  
With that, West crouched back onto her heels, bursting forwards with a sudden rush of speed. West knew her weaknesses. She was fast, but couldn’t hold her stamina up for long periods of time.  
She had to say, Wash seemed surprised by her sudden burst of speed. They were only a few metres apart when she suddenly sprung forwards, lashing out with her right fist. She aimed too high, allowing Wash to duck and throw her off balance. She stumbled, rolled with the momentum, not before retaliating with a number of ferocious kicks that forced Wash backwards.  
Wash grunted in pain when one of her swinging heels connected with his left shoulder, sending him sprawling backwards, not after he grabbed her leg and swung her a few metres away. She rolled with the impact, coming up on her hands and knees, but the break gave Wash enough time to get into an offensive position, lashing out with his right leg to strike her across the head. She went sprawling, the blow knocking her to the ground, where she went prone.  
Everything seemed to go silent as West went still. Wash froze. Had he knocked her out? On their first fight? He rushed over to her still form, when suddenly he found himself being flipped and pinned by the other soldier. Had he been able to see her face, she would have been grinning.  
“Round one, WA.”  
West laughed, getting off the dejected soldier. She offered a hand, helping him up off the ground. “Never forget that your opponent might be playing dead. It’s saved my life before.”  
Wash sighed. He was never going to hear the end of this from North and York. “Do you always like making people look like an idiot?”  
West laughed as she returned to her initial position on the floor. “Well, it won’t work now.” Pulling an offensive pose, she grinned. “Come on, Wash, let’s see what you’re made of.”

Five rounds later, WA was still winning. It was currently 4-1, as Wash had beaten her in the second hand to hand round by pure luck, managing to get a hold on her when she least expected it.  
West was more cautious now, to say the least. She had thrashed Wash in the 3rd and 4th rounds, as melee weapons were more her specialty than anything else. They would both have major bruises tomorrow, no doubt. West had only managed to win the last round by getting a lucky shot on Wash’s helmet which had incapacitated him. He was much more accurate with a gun than she was, with only her speed and instincts saving her from the painful, fast setting foam.  
She loaded her pistol quickly, taking an extra mag for good luck. The floor had reset itself into a small maze of blocks to act as cover, and so, West crouched behind one of the blocks. She was going to have to be fast. That was the only thing going for her at the moment, unless she could get Wash into close enough range to fight hand to hand where she seemed to be more skilled.  
“Round 6. Begin.”  
Straining her ears, West listened for any sign of Wash. He seemed to be keeping quiet. Jumping back a few steps, West ran forwards and upwards, climbing on top of the rectangular block to look around. Suddenly, a flash of purple flew at her and she dodged, jumping and sprinting across the top of the blocks. It had been silly, yes, to expose herself, but now she knew where Wash was shooting from. Sprinting towards the bullets, West slid and dropped down to the ground, sprinting to where she imagined Wash to be. Coming around a corner, she saw a flash of grey and yellow before she swung quickly and forcefully. Connecting her fist with his helmet, she sent him sprawling backwards, Wash having been taken unaware by the attack. He recovered quickly, but it gave her enough time to hook her leg under his, trip him up and point a gun to his head. Wash groaned and banged his helmet against the ground as FILISS announced West as the winner.  
West laughed, offering her hand to Wash. He took it, pulling himself up. “Good fight. I don’t know what I expected from an army medic.”  
“You put up a good fight yourself, you know.”  
Wash groaned. “North and York are never going to let me live this down.”


	2. Chapter 2

West blinked and mumbled tiredly as her alarm started blaring to indicate the start of her day. She slammed her fist onto her alarm, stopping the irritating squawking, before rolling over to lay flat on her back. According to her clock, it was 7 am, which was when breakfast was supposed to start.   
Grumbling, West dragged herself out of bed. They only had an hour to eat, after which the Agents would train, the workers would work and everyone else would do whatever they had to do. She was dead tired, having been dragged around for nearly 6 hours yesterday by the Councillor after her fight with Wash. He had wanted to finalise her ‘profile,’ which would contain her psych analysis or something. She hadn’t bothered to take notes. So, after that, she had been shown her room, then her office, which resided in the medical bay. She did like the med bay. It was clean and white, with two lines of 10 beds running down the sides of the room. The supplies were pretty impressive as well. She had almost everything in bulk, which was a major change from having to scrape up supplies in a war zone, and everything was labelled clearly. Once the annoying nurse cleared out, West supposed she would make herself quite comfortable.   
Talking about the nurse, he had been a tall, thin man with a drawn face that looked like he hadn’t laughed in years. He had spent two hours rattling on about protocol to West, who had listened on with semi-feigned interest. She understood the need for paperwork, but everything else, like cleaning up and using equipment was just silly. She knew the protocol. She didn’t need to hear it again.  
But thankfully, that nurse had only been a temporary replacement until West had gotten settled in. She would spend most of the day in the med bay, otherwise, she’d be training with the Agents or doing equipment stuff in the classroom. She wasn’t bothered. According to the Councillor, she was allowed to skip training today to get settled in. Thankfully the accident or injury rate was so low that the ship only needed two doctors, the other one being on the other side of the ship. West hadn’t met him yet. He wasn’t an agent, so she supposed he mainly stayed on board. She hoped he was nice. She couldn’t stand certain types of people. Mainly annoying ones.   
Shaking her head, West sighed. She really should be getting to breakfast. Since she was going straight to the med bay after breakfast, she would wear her armour.  
Striding out into the corridor, she turned to the left, following the signs on the walls that pointed in the direction of the mess hall. Ugh. West hated being in a place that she didn’t know well. It was too easy to get lost. With her helmet under her arm, she started walking.

Five minutes later, she was still walking. Where was she again? Bloody hell…  
“Hey! West Australia, was it?”  
Behind West, a cheery, male voice called out. WA paused and turned around to see a blond haired man with purple armour and green stripes jogging up to meet her. West smiled as he stuck out his hand. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Agent North Dakota. Most people call me North. You fought well yesterday. It’ll be nice to have a new face on the team.”  
West chuckled. “Thanks.” She paused, looking around for a sign, before turning to North sheepishly. “Do you know where the mess hall is?”  
North chuckled. “Got lost?”  
“…yes.”  
The blond grinned. “Come on, it’s this way. I was just on my way there.” Motioning, he started to make his way down the hall. “Have you met everyone yet? I hear the rat in the med bay was putting you through your paces yesterday. It’ll be nice to have someone with emotion treating us soon.”  
West sighed. “More like boring me to death. He seemed to think that I had never been inside a medical bay before. Idiot.” She grumbled the last part under her breath. North still caught it and laughed. “So, who are the main agents I should look out for?”   
North smiled. “Well, Carolina’s the usual squad leader. She can get a bit hot headed sometime, so watch out when it happens. Tex is a scary woman, so stay away from her. York is the lock picking expert, apparently, but he’s pretty cool. South’s my sister, but she has a bit of a temper. Don’t let her get on your nerves.” He paused, thinking. “Maine and Cerberus usually hang out together, but they’re usually pretty calm, except when Maine gets mad. You’ve met Wash. Wyoming is the one who always tells knock-knock jokes, and Florida is always extremely cheerful. I’m sure I’ve missed someone, but that’s pretty much it.”  
West nodded, everything falling silent as they walked. She supposed she’d meet everyone soon enough. “So, there’s Carolina, Tex, York, South, Maine, Cerberus, Wash, who I’ve met, Wyoming and Florida. That’s everyone?”  
North laughed. “That’s some memory.”  
She chuckled. “It comes with the occupation.”

A few minutes later, West found herself in a large hallway. There were benches stretching from wall to wall, with a long row of cafeteria styled food servers along one wall. There seemed to be a massive array of food available, and as soon as the two freelancers approached the food, a gap parted in the line of soldiers. West blinked. She was unused to having such respect shown to her, but apparently that respect came along with the position. Grabbing one of the trays North handed to her, she quickly piled up her food before following North to what she assumed was his table. It seemed that most of the freelancers gravitated around each other, with most of the squad sitting on the same table or either extremely close. North sat down next to a man with brownish tan coloured armour, who had dark brown hair and a scar running almost vertically down the side of his face. It seemed that he had also lost an eye, or at least, his vision.  
Wash was sitting across from the scarred man, and as West say down next to him, he smiled, face full of food. “Did you get lost?”  
The scarred man laughed. “Don’t ask her with your mouth full, Wash! Swallow first!”  
Rolling his eyes, Wash swallowed before repeating his question. West chuckled sheepishly. “Yeah, and North had to help me out.”  
The scarred man smiled. “Don’t worry, it happens to all the new people at first. You learn your way around pretty quickly.” He stuck out his hand across the table. “I’m Agent New York. It’s nice to meet you. You’re West, right? Or WA?”  
West smiled. “Yeah. Can I call you York?”  
He laughed. “Of course! Everyone here gets a nickname at some point or another. Do you prefer West or WA?”  
She shrugged, starting to pick at her food. “Doesn’t really matter. You can call me either.”  
Wash swallowed his mouthful of food and piped up. “Are you coming to training today, West?”  
The woman shook her head. “No, I’m going to set up in the med bay.”  
“Do you need help getting there?” York pulled the biggest grin, so West flicked a piece of food at his face, hitting him square in the nose. He recoiled with an “Oi!” while Wash and North laughed.   
“No, I’ll be fine thanks. Besides, you guys have to get to training. Shouldn’t be too hard to find.”  
North smiled. “Otherwise, you can just ask one of the soldiers. We can come visit after.”  
“That’d be good. Don’t think it’ll be too exciting for you though.”  
The blond shrugged. “Doesn’t really matter. Hm?” Breaking off, he focused on something behind West. “Hey, Cerberus! How are you feeling?”  
West turned around to see a tall, sandy blond man with prosthetic legs approaching the table and he had a… tail? What? He obviously noticed West’s confusion, as he stuck his hand out in greeting. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Agent Cerberus. You’re Agent West Australia?” He looked at North with a sheepish smile. “I’m fine, North. Prosthetics were just playing up a bit. Pushed myself a bit hard yesterday.”  
West nodded, trying to overcome her surprise. “Yeah… yes. You can call me West or WA if you want. Are your legs alright? I saw your fall yesterday.”  
Cerberus smiled. “Yeah, I’m fine. Maine fixed me up. They play up every so often.” He took a slight step back and winced.   
West narrowed her eyes. She wanted to have a look. “I dealt with a lot of prosthetics during the war. Would you mind if I took a look at your prosthetics? It wouldn’t take long. I might be able to help with your pain.”  
“No, it’s alright, I’m fi- what are you doing?” Cerberus looked at her wearily as she stood up, inspecting him. Wash, North and York looked on curiously as West sized Cerberus up. She couldn’t see anything underneath the armour, but Cerberus seemed to be limping and in pain. She nodded resolutely.   
“Right, come on. I’m going to give your legs a look and I’ll give you something for the pain.”  
West sighed as he protested. “No, I’m fine, really- hey!”   
Gingerly, she swooped down and picked up Cerberus, hooking her hands under his knees and under his arms. He proclaimed loudly in protest, amongst the laughter of the other freelancers as West started walking towards the door. She turned slightly to yell towards the freelancer she thought was Maine: “You can pick him up later!”


	3. Chapter 3

There was probably some rule preventing her from forcefully taking a person to examine them, but West wasn’t really bothered. Cerberus had stopped squirming, resigning himself to being carried to the med bay. He had gone fairly red, and was currently pouting in her arms. West had to stop herself from laughing, instead allowing herself a small grin.   
“You know, I can walk. You don’t have to carry me, West.” Cerberus was still pouting. West chuckled, turning down the next corridor. She had been walking for a few minutes and now knew where she was; she had been led down this corridor yesterday. It had the same signs. A few more corridors and she found herself in the white, wide med bay. West smiled. At least she didn’t get lost.  
Walking over to one of the beds, she gently placed Cerberus on the bed. He just sat there, pouting and crossing his arms. “Mind taking your pants off? I want to have a look at your legs.” When he gave her the most affronted look, she sighed and rolled her eyes. “Not like that. You can leave your underwear on. I’ll pull a screen across so you get some privacy.”  
Grumbling, Cerberus started to remove his armour, gingerly placing it on to adjacent bed. He had to take everything off, before peeling his suit underneath away to reveal his prosthetic legs. West frowned. They looked angry and inflamed, the place where the metal joined skin looking the most aggravated. It wasn’t infected, it just looked like Cerberus’s body was trying to reject the metal. West had seen it before on the front lines with dodgy prosthetics. You needed to give the patient certain drugs to make their body accept the prosthetics well, similar to drugs given to patients in artificial heart valve transplants. The medic sighed. She’d have to place a specific order to the cargo hold in order to get some. At least she could give Cerberus painkillers. She had enough of those.   
“So, can I go now? I need to get to training.”   
West shushed him with a wave of her hand. “You’re not allergic to anything, are you?” He shook his head. “Okay, good. I’m going to give you some mild analgesics, to help with the pain. You need a certain type of drug to stop your body from reacting with your prosthetics. I’m going to have to order them in.”  
“It’s fine, West. I’ve been dealing with this pain for a while now. Maine usually helps me when it gets bad, but I’ll be alright.”  
West narrowed her eyes at him. “I don’t want to be serving with someone I know is injured. Once I get these drugs, you will take them. As your commanding medical officer, I am requesting that you take the drugs I give you. Okay?”  
Cerberus grumbled and relented, taking the painkillers that West handed to him. With her watching, he swallowed the pills with a gulp of water. “Happy? Can I go now?”  
West gave him a quick appraisal. She wasn’t happy, having to leave him like that, but there was nothing she could do, really. She nodded. “Yeah, you can go-“   
Quite suddenly, a soldier burst in. “Doc! We need your help in the cargo bay! One of the agents is injured!”  
The two agents paused in surprise, when West nodded, quickly running over to the wall to grab an emergency first aid pack and a scoop stretcher. Switching almost instantly into her ‘work mode,’ she started to think about possible injuries. She hoped that the other doctor was on his way now. She’d need help stabilising a critical patient, and she’d need to see the injury. Throwing the scoop stretcher over her shoulder, along with the emergency first aid kit, she followed the soldier hurriedly out the door.   
As they sprinted down the hallway, West quizzed the soldier on the nature of the agent’s injuries. Apparently they had been caught in a scuffle on the way back from a stealth mission to retrieve stolen equipment from something called ‘the Resistance.’ The pelican had been shot and nearly sent down, with one of the agents copping a bullet wound to the chest. That was almost all the info West could glean from the soldier, but it would have to be enough. At least she could prepare for bullet wounds.   
It only took them a minute, sprinting, to reach the hanger. There was a fair amount of chaos, but amongst it, West could see the purple armour of another medic. There were a few brightly coloured Agents keeping the soldiers at bay, forming a ring around the injured agent and the medic. West, with Cerberus in tow, ran over to the crowd, shoving her way through. The crowd parted almost immediately when she yelled, “Medic! Let me through!” revealing a pile of bright, cyan armour lying abandoned on the ground and a prone, dark skinned figure. The other medic was kneeling on the ground, doing his best to stabilise the wound. He looked up, suddenly, and when he spotted West, he almost visibly relaxed. She hurried over to the prone agent, kneeling down next to him.   
It wasn’t pretty. Two bullet holes stood dark and bleeding against the man’s dark skin. One was just above the area of his left clavicle, with the other just under the man’s right nipple. He was unconscious, but gasping for air. He probably had a pneumothorax, judging by the injury. West swore under her breath. That was bad. Hopefully there would be an exit and entry wound. It would save the two medics a lot of trouble.   
The other medic had started to stabilise the man’s chest, applying a three sided dressing to the bullet wound to prevent more air from entering his chest. He was doing a decent job, so West moved to the agent’s left side, beginning to treat his shoulder with her supplies. Without even a signal, the two medics began rattling off vital signs.   
“Can you take BP?”  
West nodded. “Yep, I’ll take it in a sec. Heart rate?”  
The man grunted. “110.”  
“That’s not good. We need to get him to the advanced healing unit, or this could get bad.”  
“You brought a stretcher?”  
“Yep. Resp rate?”  
“31.”  
“Okay, blood pressure’s 90 on 60. We need to get him to the med bay quickly.”  
“Log roll?”  
“Yeah. Cerberus! We need your help!” Calling to the other agent, who was standing idly, West beckoned him over. West pulled over the scoop stretcher, splitting the two half and lining up the stretcher against the cyan agent. “We need to do a log roll. We also need a least one more person to lift the stretcher.”  
The purple medic nodded, calling out to one of the other agents that West hadn’t met. “Sarge! We need your help!”  
An agent in bright red armour broke off from the crowd to come stand near the purple medic. “Whatcha need, Doc? Help carrying that dirty Blue?”  
The medic, Doc, sighed. “Yes, we need help carrying him. Okay,” He nodded to West, “I’ll take head and you can take the torso. Sarge, you can take the legs and Cerberus, you can help lift the stretcher. We’ll roll to the side on the count of three. Okay?”  
Everyone chimed their agreement. West had done this enough times for it to be almost automatic for her. On three, the three agents rolled the cyan agent onto his side, where Cerberus slid the scoop stretcher underneath the unconscious man. A minute later, the cyan soldier was lying on the stretcher, strapped firmly onto the metal. Doc was instructing the group again, and on three, the four lifted the man up. He was as stable as possible, and until West and Doc could get him to the closest healing unit, there was nothing else they could do to help him.  
About 5 minutes later, the small group was back in the med bay, the only words having been exchanged being instructions from either West or Doc. With help from Cerberus and the red agent named Sarge, Doc and West managed to direct the cyan soldier – named Tucker – into the bulky, full body healing unit in the far corner. It was basically a tube, and when someone was placed in it, it accelerated their normal healing rate to heal damaged tissue and injuries at a much faster rate. Almost instantly, Tucker’s vital signs started to stabilise as the tube started to work. West had used a cruder, larger version in the war, which had worked far more slowly than this current model. Apparently she was going to have an even more advance model implanted into her armour, to allow for her to help her casualties on the field. But that wasn’t the time to think about that.  
Jotting down Tucker’s vital signs from earlier, West pinned it to the healing unit, so either she or Doc could have a comparison baseline. Standing back from the grumbling machine, she exhaled in relief. There was nothing else they could do, apart from let the machine do its work. The two medics had made sure that there was no debris or foreign objects so that the healing unit didn’t leave Tucker with a bullet in his back. Turning to the other medic, West stuck out her hand. “I’m West. It’s nice to meet you.”  
The man smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. “You’re the new doctor, aren’t you? Thanks for your help. I don’t think I would’ve been able to get Tucker here otherwise.” He paused, smiling again, before shaking West’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you. Most people just call me Doc. They can’t be bothered pronouncing my name…”  
West chuckled. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Doc.” Turning, she stuck her hand out to the red soldier lingering a few metres away. “You’re Sarge?”  
The older man grinned and shook her hand with an intense grip. “Agent Sarge, leader of the mighty Reds! It’s nice to meet you, little lady.” He had a southern drawl, not unlike the Director himself. He nodded approvingly at the red on West’s armour and grinned. 

By the second hour of Tucker being in the healing unit, almost everyone had heard of his injury and had poked their heads into the med bay at one point or another. To avoid injuring Tucker, West and Doc had decided to leave the agent in the healing unit, but Doc had retreated to his own med bay and office to complete the paperwork. Cerberus was having fun chasing off the curious soldiers, but he allowed some people, like Wash and some other agents, to stay as they were all friends of Tucker. West sighed, running a gloved hand through her hair. She was extremely bored. She had to stay to monitor Tucker, but she had nothing to do. Thankfully, some of the new agents that had visited, such as Agent Caboose, Agent Church, Agent Grif and Agent Simmons, were providing an interesting distraction. They were all friends of Tucker, and as West could see, all had some… interesting friendships. Grif and Simmons were arguing about something idiotic, while Church was trying to fend Caboose off from hugging him or something. They were a very odd bunch of people. Caboose was a tall and extremely friendly young man, with dark brown, almost black hair. He was almost always smiling and insisted that Church was his ‘bestest friend in the whole world.” Church, however, was a grouchy man in his mid-twenties, with an almost scary resemblance to the Director, having black hair, similar face and goatee.   
Grif was a short, chubby soldier, in frank contrast to his companion. Simmons was a tall, skinny, pale white man with auburn hair and prosthetic arm and what appeared to be eye and leg. They were a very strange group, but according to Wash, they were better “once you got to know them.” West hoped so. She had a feeling that she’d see a lot of the multi-coloured agents over the course of her career as a Freelancer. The group had also brought over Tucker’s armour, so that was sitting in the corner.   
After a while, the other agents had to leave, their other duties calling them, much to Grif and Church’s annoyance. Wash had to leave as well, being needed in one of the AI maintenance classes. West sighed. She was alone again with the unconscious Tucker. It was hard to tell when he would wake up. His injury was healing well, and his lung had almost fully inflated again. West sighed, sitting back on one of the beds. May as well make myself useful…  
Nearly four hours later, nearing dinner, West had cleaned the entire med bay from top to bottom, had taken an inventory of the entire room and had cleaned her office. Tucker hadn’t woken up. And she was so bored. At the entrance of the room, the sliding metal doors opened, revealing York, North and Wash with a few trays of food. It was nearing dinner, of course. West’s stomach growled at the reminder, but she almost hugged York – the closest – in joy. “York, help me! I’m so bored.”  
Wash and North chuckled while York tried to dodge West’s attack. They had all decided to see how the new agent was settling in, considering what had happened that day with Tucker’s injuries. And because it was dinner, they had snuck a few trays of food out for the medic. They weren’t strictly allowed to do that, but they were able to sneak away without anyone noticing them.  
So, that was how West found herself eating dinner on the ground of the med bay with three other agents that she’d only met that day or the day before. She had to laugh at that, so when North asked what she was laughing at, she explained. She chuckled and shook her head.   
“Do you guys always sneak out food for the new kid?”  
York grinned. “Only for people we like. We let Wash get lost for about a week before North decided to be nice.” He flicked a piece of food at the other freelancer. “Ruined the fun.”  
North only chuckled while Wash rolled his eyes and thumped York’s shoulder. “Thanks, York. Such a good friend.”  
York recoiled and laughed, grinning at his friend.  
“You know that taking food from the mess hall is against the rules, don’t you, boys?”  
York, Wash and North froze almost instantly. Hesitantly, York turned to grin at the cyan agent. “Hey ‘Lina. Wash wanted to bring WA some food, since she couldn’t leave the med bay, and… yeah.” He chuckled sheepishly. “That’s about it.”  
Carolina shook her head and gave a small smile. “Don’t let the cook see you, or he’ll put you in the next meal. I came to see how the new recruit was.”  
West smiled and stood up, brushing at her armour to remove any food. Walking over the other redhead, West extended her hand. “You’re Carolina, right?”  
The woman nodded. “Yes. And you’re West Australia. You fought well yesterday.”  
West smiled sheepishly. “Thanks. You can call me WA. Or West, if it’s easier.” Leaning back on her hip, she looked Carolina over once. “Do you need anything?”  
“Yes, actually. My ankle’s been giving me some pain whenever I run. Can you take a look at it?”  
The medic smiled. She’d dealt with plenty of sporting injuries before. “Sure. Come over to the bed and take your shoes and socks off. It’s your right ankle?” Carolina had been limping slightly on the way in. Once on the bed, West started to examine Carolina’s ankle, while asking her questions about her injury.  
“When did the pain start?”  
“A few days ago, during training.”  
“Did you land on it funny?”  
“I don’t think so. Not that I can remember.”  
A few moments and a few questions later, West pulled back. From what she could tell, it was probably strained, with a few bruises and a bit of swelling around the ankle. Walking over to a cupboard, West pulled out a disposable ice pack, crunched it, before tossing it to Carolina. She also pulled out a pressure bandage, meant to give support to the woman’s ankle. Once strapped, West started to give Carolina instructions of how to deal with her ankle.   
“So, try not to strain your ankle. Let it rest for a few days, okay? Keep that ice on it. And before you ask, that means no training.”  
Carolina blinked in surprise. “I have to keep training. We all need to be at our best. If I stop for a few days, I’m going to need to catch up.” By that, West gathered that she wanted to be at her best so she could beat Agent Texas. York had filled her in about the rivalry between the two during an earlier discussion.  
West rolled her eyes. “You won’t be at your best, Carolina, if you injure your ankle any further. If I see you on the training floor tomorrow, I will drag you off. You need to rest your ankle. Understood?”  
The other agent glared at West, annoyance rolling off her in waves. West didn’t relent, so Carolina sighed, pulling her shoes on. “Fine. Thank you for the ice and strapping.”  
West nodded. “If it starts hurting again or gets worse, come see me straight away, okay? I have painkillers if you need it.”  
The freelancer nodded, smiled once, before disappearing out the door. Once she left, the other freelancers started to speak up again. Wash was the first to pipe up. “What the hell? She actually listened to you?”  
North nodded his consent. “Wow. That was impressive. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her take orders from another freelancer before.”  
York, however, rolled his eyes. “She’s not that bad, guys.”  
“You’re just sweet on her mate, come on.” North grinned while Wash laughed, nodding his agreement.  
The scarred man shrugged. “Can blame me if the ladies love me.”  
“I don’t.” West piped up, totally deadpan before cracking a grin at York to let him know that she didn’t really mean it. He still feigned hurt, clutching at his heart while North and Wash laughed.  
“Ouch, that hurts West! How can you wound an injured soldier like me so badly?”  
Wash laughed, grinning at West and his friend. “You really did walk into that one, York.”  
York sighed, smiling. “You guys are unbelievable- “ He broke off when the bell indicating the end of dinner went off. The three male freelancers scrambled to their feet. “Shit, we have to return these to the mess hall! The cook’ll kill us!”  
Wash grabbed two trays while York grabbed the other, and the three men bolted for the door, yelling their goodbyes through the open door. West laughed, shaking her head at their antics. She had a very good feeling that she was going to make some very good friends while in this program.  
She was sure of it.


	4. Chapter 4

It was about three in the morning when Tucker woke up. West had been napping in her office when she heard an exclaim of “what the hell? Where am I?!” which had woken her rather suddenly. She had been trying to complete some more paper work, and had put in the request form for Cerberus’s drugs. It had been near midnight when she had probably fallen asleep, sprawled over her desk. She had fallen asleep in her armour’s under suit, and because of it, had a massive cramp in her shoulder and lower back. Grumbling, she made her way outside to see Tucker freaking out from within the full body healing unit.  
“Hey, hey! It’s okay. You were injured. Calm down!” She rushed over to the healing unit to open it. Tucker sat up suddenly, gasping frantically. West placed a hand on his back, cautiously trying to calm the Agent down. After a few seconds, the man started to calm down, his breathing becoming more regular and even.   
“Where am I? What happened?” He glanced around the med bay, taking in the surroundings. Then he looked at West. “Who are you?”  
“I’m the new doctor and agent on board. Name’s West Australia. Your ship was attacked and you were injured, so Doc and I stuck you in the healing unit. You had a pneumothorax.”  
“A what?!”  
West sighed, beginning to take a set of Tucker’s vitals. “You had been shot in the lungs. Your right lung had collapsed and you had air in your chest. You were lucky we got to you quickly.”  
“Or what? I would’ve died?” Tucker raised a sceptical eyebrow.   
“Yep. But you seemed to have recovered well. How do you feel?”  
“Sick. And sore. And not the good kind of sore.” He gave her a wink and a sly smile. West just rolled her eyes. She had been warned about Tucker’s rather… promiscuous attitude.   
“You don’t feel short of breath? And no pain?” West raised an eyebrow as the dark skinned man shook his head. “Okay, good. Your vitals are normal, but if you start getting any pain, let me know. I can run a check on you to make sure it isn’t anything serious, like some sort of relapse. Okay?”  
“Wait, so I have to stay here? Can’t I go back to my room?”   
The medic gave the agent a stern look. “Yes, you have to stay here. And no, you can’t. If you’re okay in the morning, you can go back. But you’ll have to miss a day or two of training so you can allow your body to fully recover.”  
“I can miss training? Hell yeah!”  
West rolled her eyes, but helped Tucker out of the healing unit. He sat down on one of the med bay beds, laying down and yawning. West nodded before yawning herself. “Time to go to bed. I’ll see you in the morning, Tucker.”  
“Night.”

West’s alarm went off in the morning at about 5.30am. A pager on West’s desk beeped noisily, and after a moment, opened up a comm line. The medic scrambled up as Carolina’s voice came through on the comms.   
“West? West! Where are you? You’re needed in the war room!”  
The agent groaned, rubbing her face sleepily. “What? Carolina, what’s happening?”  
There was a sigh of exasperation over the line. “West, we have a mission. Weren’t you told? We’re all waiting! You have ten minutes before I make you do laps in the training room when we get back. Just. get. Here. Now.” The radio clicked off.   
West growled, basically throwing her armour on in under two minutes. She was used to getting dressed in record time after being in the war for so long, and she spent the next two minutes throwing together a temporary first aid kit. The next seven and a half minutes were spent running and grumbling to the war room, where she walked in with the biggest scowl on her face.   
Agent Carolina, Wash, York, North, South and Cerberus were standing around a table with a holographic projector showing some sort of tower or secret base, with certain points highlighted in red and yellow. The Director and Councillor were standing at the head of the table, with the Director frowning so hard it made the lines on his face look permanent. Wash, York, North and Cerberus were giving West both mortified and sympathetic looks.   
“Agent West Australia, you are twenty minutes late to a mission briefing. What excuse do you have for this?” The Director was radiating anger and disapproval, staring the medic down. West pulled off her helmet, slamming it down on the table. She was angry. She had received no word of the mission, and now she was getting scolded for something she knew nothing about!  
“How about actually telling me, next fucking time?” She leaned over the table, glaring daggers at the man at the other end. “I’m up until midnight, monitoring one of our agents who had a fucking pneumothorax, and who only woke up at three this morning. And then I’m woken up, given ten minutes to prepare for a mission I knew nothing about, and then scolded for it! I’ve only been here for three days! So don’t give me any of this ‘excuses’ bullshit. You might be the Director, but you have no excuse to treat me in this way.”  
West was faced with a stony silence, exemplified by the humming machinery. The Director glared West down, but she didn’t relent. Surprisingly enough, he didn’t say anything, as if he was waiting for an actual explanation. Finally, after a few, awkward seconds, Carolina brought the Director’s attention back to the hologram. From what West could glean, they were raiding an enemy base, the same one the Reds and Blues had escaped from only the day before. Halfway through, West went over to the corner to radio Doc, to let him know that Tucker had woken up and that his vitals needed to be checked. When the other agents and the Director started to watch, she just started talking about the most confusing medical jargon that she could, rambling on about hypoglycaemia and deep vein thrombosis and whatever she could think of. Doc seemed confused, but after West explained it, he seemed happy to go along with it. She had to stop herself from laughing, as when she looked back, the other agents had returned their attentions to the table.   
About ten minutes later, the briefing finished. Apparently West was staying in reserve. They were expecting some heavy resistance, and they weren’t sure how many people were going to get injured. The group walked hurriedly down to the hangar, with Carolina heading specifically towards a pelican near the front of the huge room. West trailed at the back of the group, in step with Wash and Cerberus. Everyone was rather silent, but West was running through equipment in her head. She hadn’t had time to organise her first aid kit, and she wasn’t sure what sort of things they were going to run into. Agents Wash, North, York, South and Cerberus were going to act as a distraction while Agent Carolina would extract classified information from the base computers. She sure hoped Carolina would watch her ankle. She wasn’t sure how it would affect the cyan agent in battle. West was going to hang around in the pelican until someone got injured. Not much else. But she wasn’t sure what she had expected. 

The inside of the pelican was a uniform, steel grey, with a number of seats along both sides. Carolina went straight to the cockpit, acting as a co-pilot for a woman named Four-Seven-Niner, apparently. Everyone else just picked a seat, sitting down almost leisurely. Wash sat down near West, who placed her first aid kit between her legs. Cerberus was sitting across from her, North and York next to him, engaged in their own conversation. South was sitting next to her brother. She seemed to have gained a new respect for West, after her outburst at the Director.   
Shaking her head, the blond grinned wickedly. “West, you are insane. And you have some real balls.”   
West just chuckled and shook her head. “Thanks? I think?” Pulling off her harness, she sat on the ground, opening her first aid kit. It was a pretty smooth flight so far, and they had nearly two hours until they reached their checkpoint. So, West was going to sort through her first aid kit, since she had had only ten minutes to pack her kit. She was tempted to tip the kit on the ground, but she couldn’t be bothered, rather just taking everything out and placing it on the ground next to them. Wash slid onto the ground next to her, watching curiously.   
“What sort of equipment is that?” He had pulled his helmet off, placing it on his seat next to him. He had shockingly blond hair that almost shone underneath the LED lights of the pelican, cut short into a regulation military haircut. West smiled. She always enjoyed informing people about first aid or medicine.   
“What piece?” She motioned to all of her equipment on the ground with a laugh. She had all sorts of stuff; OPA’s, NPA’s, portable oxygen cylinders, about three different types of oxygen masks, bandages, band aids, splints, tourniquets and about eight different types of medication. That wasn’t everything, but Wash seemed surprised at the amount of stuff crammed into one tiny bag. She also had a portable healing unit, but it was one use only and was to only be used in extreme circumstances. 

She had to say, it was probably one of the most enjoyable flights that West had had in a while. Wash seemed genuinely interested in what West knew, so she ended up spending nearly an hour talking to him about medical procedures and some of the things she had seen and heard. She told Wash a particularly silly story about how one of the men in her squad had been on patrol once on a jungle planet, and had decided to use the time alone to his advantage when he had been ambushed by a group of grunt aliens. The plasma burns to some of his more sensitive areas hadn’t been funny, but the man had been so ashamed when he had been rescued. Luckily, one of his mates had been nearby, and they had managed to help his friend fight off the weaker aliens. But still, it was one of the more ridiculous things that she’d seen, and she nearly pissed herself laughing with South when she saw the most mortified looks on almost all the men in the pelican. She had laughed and had slapped Wash on the back, playfully. He had grumbled and said something along the lines of ‘I really don’t want your job, West.’ before falling silent.  
The closer to the checkpoint, the more silent the inside of the pelican grew. West was nervous, but she would never admit it. She was afraid she would bugger something up, since she wasn’t used to major operations. Her old squad had always been low key, not as professional as the freelancers.   
West sighed, leaning her head back against the back of her seat. She missed her old squad. She had ran with them for nearly four years, had made some really good friends. That was a long time in war. West clutched her dog tags tightly, not before opening her eyes and glaring at the ceiling of the pelican. Why was she remembering this? Her squad was dead.   
“West, are you okay?” North was gazing worriedly at the medic, who seemed to be focused on glaring a hole through the top of the pelican. She had spoken animatedly with Wash for most of the trip, keeping everyone laughing with her stories. But now, she seemed to be unusually quiet. He heard her sigh, softly.  
“Just thinking about my old squad.” She shook her head, smiled tightly. “I’m fine, North. It’s alright.” He heard her mutter something under her breath. It’ll be okay…  
Suddenly, Four-seven-niner’s voice broke through the silence of the pelican, crackling over the radio. “Alright, you lot, get ready. I won’t be able to stay for very long, so I’m going to have to drop you guys in the middle of the fight. They’ve got plenty of anti-aircraft guns, so you’ll have to disable them if you want to get picked up. And, sorry, was it West? You’ll have to go with your squad.” She paused for a moment, probably listening to Carolina. “No arguments, I can’t make two stops. Okay, on my mark, get ready to get out.”  
And suddenly, they were freefalling. Apparently, the pilot had pulled something like this before, so West wasn’t worried. She just focused on getting her equipment and weapons ready. She had only grabbed a pistol and a standard battle rifle. West was a bit miffed at the fact that she wasn’t allowed to take any of the melee weapons, but she would have to make do.   
“On my mark… NOW!”   
The back of the pelican flung open as the vehicle started to stop its decent. Everyone sprinted for the door, flinging themselves into the middle of the unsuspecting enemies. West exited last, jumping the remaining twenty metres or so to the ground. She wasn’t worried about injuring herself; her armour would protect her. Automatically, she threw herself into cover, watching in her peripheral vision, their ride disappear back into the clouds. Well, they were on their own now.  
They had thrown themselves into a literal battlefield. Since the Reds and blues hadn’t been able to complete their mission, the freelancers were being sent in to finish the job. The Resistance were sure as hell expecting them. They mightn’t have expected them to drop out of the sky, but the sheer amount of armed soldiers indicated that the organisation had been expecting them.   
The compound, in the middle of what seemed to be the goddamn ocean, was an old, industrial style, warehouse looking set of buildings, all grouped up together on the side of a natural island. The area that they were in at the moment seemed to be a massive courtyard, ringed by huge shipping containers, worn down by rust and old age. They were strewn rather haphazardly around, which meant that it gave West and the others plenty of time to slip into some form of cover.  
West punched a soldier in the face, knocking him out almost instantly. A bullet later and he was down. Slipping into his cover, she didn’t allow herself to feel regret. It’d only hamper their progress. As West gazed over the battlefield from her little alcove, she could hear the yelling and fighting from both the radio and all around her. Carolina had already disappeared, slipping off inside the compound to recover the stolen information. Wash and North were pinned down nearby, taking cover behind a massive upturned building. Cerberus was nowhere to be seen. Actually, she could see a slight shimmer in the air as soldiers seemed to just… die. York, she couldn’t see. South was just going wild, killing as many soldiers as possible in her path before she started grappling with what seemed to be an officer or some sort of elite. Actually, she could see quite a few of the ‘elite’ soldiers around the compound. She could see one with a sniper rifle, flanked by a group of his minions, another two, both with melee weapons; from what West could see, one was carrying a set of tomahawk, the other a set of wicked looking knives. The medic frowned. She had a feeling that she would end up grappling with one of them by the end of this.   
Well, by the sound of it, the Freelancers were providing a decent distraction for Carolina. West was surprised at the fact that she hadn’t been shot yet, since she was wearing almost all white armour. Provided, she was hiding, but still. She was counting herself lucky. It seemed that everyone else was being pinned down; even Cerberus, who was now visible again. West poked her head out again. York was yelling something to North, asking him to try take out the other snipers. South was yelling something else that West couldn’t make out; the radio was just an unintelligible garble of words and noise.   
The woman sighed. Glancing behind her, she noticed that the soldier that she had shot had a number of fragmentation grenades. Well, she did have a decent throwing arm… Pulling the pin out from one of the grenades, she counted for two seconds before lobbing it as hard she could towards the group of snipers. She had thrown it well; it landed at the foot of the elite, who only noticed what it was a second too late. The resounding boom brought a small twinge of satisfaction. West was a medic. She didn’t like hurting people if she could, but if it meant defending her friends, she would do her job.   
“Who the hell threw that?!” West could hear Wash shriek over the radio. She almost sighed.  
“That was me, Wash.”  
“Damn, you throw well! We need to bring you to more missions.” That was York.  
“Guys, can we focus? These guys are looking pretty determined to kill us.” Cerberus.  
“Right. I’ll try find a vantage point to take some out.” North piped up, disappearing around a building.  
“Is anyone injured?” That was her.  
“No.”  
“Nah, we’re fine.”  
“West, you need to lighten up. We can take care of ourselves.” That was South.   
“Okay, if you get shot, you can treat yourself.” West snapped, looking around for more enemies. She could see the back of Wash’s armour, and the dark green smudge of Cerberus’s, but she couldn’t see York, South or North. That made her nervous.   
Thankfully, South ignored her remark, apparently more focused on the fight. West poked her head out of her cover, looking around, when suddenly she was almost impaled by the guy with the Tomahawks. She ducked, quickly, and threw her equipment into the corner. It would only slow her down in a fight. Tomahawk Guy growled something along the lines of “I’m going to kill you!” which only made West roll her eyes. That was original.   
Shit! West threw herself to the side, rolling with the momentum to come up on her hands and feet, not before jumping back to miss another swing. She could hear York yell something to her, maybe a warning, but she barely registered it, more focused on blocking and parrying the swinging soldier.   
She pulled a combat knife from its sheathe, using the blade to block the man’s swing. She was knocked back to the ground, but after managing to get her legs under his stomach, managed to throw the elite a few metres away from her. She could hear his yell of anger, which was only exemplified when she threw her combat knife into his right shoulder – his superior arm. And judging on where she had thrown, she had severed some of the ligaments in his shoulder. As a result, his arm now hung limp at his side, tomahawk barely grasped. “I am going to fucking kill you.”   
Slowly – was it meant to be intimidating? - Tomahawk Guy pulled the combat knife from his shoulder, dropping it on the ground. The blade bounced once before stopping. West could only roll her eyes at the man. He couldn’t see it, yeah, but she still did it.  
“You really shouldn’t do that. It’ll only make you bleed more.” West snorted, placing a hand on her hip. The man stopped – actually stopped – in surprise.   
“What the hell?” He growled, taking a step towards her, only stopping when he saw the grenade clasped in her fingers. West waved her hand dismissively. She could see Cerberus creeping up behind Tomahawk Guy, a combat knife in his hand.   
“Well, if you have an object impaled in you, it might be blocking punctured blood vessels from bleeding more. Like that knife.” West motioned to the knife on the ground with a wave of her hand. Even through his helmet, she could feel him giving her the most confused, aggravated look. A moment later, he was sliding to the ground, blood bubbling in his throat as Cerberus’s knife slashed it open.   
“Really, West?” He sounded both annoyed and faintly amused. The medic shrugged.  
“It gave you the chance to kill him, didn’t it?” West walked over to the dead elite, picking up the man’s tomahawks. She spun them around in her hands, testing them out. Not too heavy, but they felt like they could do some real damage. Nice and sharp, too. “Oh, I like these.” Cerberus gave her a rather unamused look. “What? I can’t help it if I have an affinity for melee weapons.”  
He sighed, shook his head before throwing himself back into the fray. “West, come on! I think York is having trouble with that sword chick.”   
West just sighed and followed her friend. Back into the fight…


	5. Chapter 5

As it happened, York had been having trouble with the ‘sword chick,’ and had sustained a number of lacerations to his arms and chest. He wasn’t going easily though, having broken the woman’s nose and dislocated a number of her fingers on her left hand after knocking her helmet off. She looked furious, her blond hair whipping around her head as she pummelled the scarred agent.   
“HEY, BLONDIE!” West yelled at the top of her lungs. She wasn’t sure if the blond would hear her, but she whipped around, allowing York to punch her in the face, sending her stumbling back with a spit of rage. The distraction allowed West and Cerberus to rush to York’s aid, with Cerberus swapping places with York while West dragged him away to what appeared to be a semi-safe location. Thankfully, with North acting as their sniper, most of the soldiers on the field had been forced to run to cover, allowing the agents to gain the upper hand. Most seemed to be running away from the small group at the moment, except for the elites, who seemed to be screaming with rage.  
York wasn’t in a good state. The worst injuries were a number of lacerations on York’s torso. His armour had blocked the worst of the injuries, but he was still leaking blood. West grimaced. His pulse rate was starting to spike, just as his blood pressure began to drop. Shit. Her armour’s hud display showed York’s vitals. At least she wouldn’t have to take most of them manually.   
“York, talk to me mate. Keep saying stuff. Doesn’t matter what.” Goddamn it, his glucose level was dropping. Oxygen saturation was dropping as well. She pulled a cylinder of oxygen from her first aid kit, with a Hudson oxygen mask that she attached to York’s face. She hooked it up to the cylinder, feeling the cold flow of gas begin to come through the mask. He mumbled something incoherent. “Say that again, mate?” She couldn’t help it; sometimes in situations or emergencies, her ‘Australianness’ tended to come out, usually in the form of a stronger accent and Australian slang.   
“I said… should I ask… ‘Lina… out to the Vegas Quadrant… on our next rotation?” His voice was weak, yet still seemed to have an edge of humour to it. West gave a small, forced chuckle.   
“Ask her when Four-Seven-Niner picks us up. Okay, York? Keep talking to me, mate.”  
She pulled his chest piece off. He didn’t resist much, having started to fall into unconsciousness from the loss of blood. Shock. She needed to be careful of shock, too. Okay, gauze, she needed gauze. Apply pressure to the chest… okay. She held that there, before pulling a fifteen centimetre bandage from her first aid kit. Perched over York, she wound the bandage around his chest. Asides from that, she couldn’t do anything to stop the bleeding, except apply more pressure. York would defiantly need stitches when they got back to the Mother of Invention. Or maybe he just needed to spend some time in the healing unit. That would be easier. York just kept mumbling something about his ‘date with a certain agent.’ West could only roll her eyes.   
While she was at it, she pulled the gauntlets and upper arm bracers off of the man’s arms, beginning to bandage those up as well. The lacerations there weren’t as serious as the ones on his chest, thankfully. They didn’t look to be that deep.   
After a few minutes, West had bandaged up most of the man’s injuries. The bandages on his chest had started to turn red, causing West to swear in the foulest language she could think of. She couldn’t do anything except apply another bandage and yell at Four-Seven-Niner for an evac and the others to finish what they were doing because they needed to go.   
“West, what the hell is going on out there?!” Carolina yelled over the radio, sounding partially panicked, but mostly angry. “I’ve got what we need. Four-Seven-Niner, where the hell are you?! We’ve got about five minutes before this place goes up in smoke!”  
Their pilot’s calm, annoyed voice came through on their radios, “I’ll be there in a sec. Get ready to move, you guys! And take out those anti-aircraft guns!”  
“We’re on it!” South yelled over the radio, and West could see out of the corner of her eye, North and South sprint straight for the massive turrets on the other side of the courtyard. The soldiers guarding the gun didn’t know what hit them, and the twins disabled the automated turrets in less than a minute.   
West looked down at York. The bleeding hadn’t stopped yet. It was going to be a pain getting the man to the pelican, which had just pulled up.  
“Need some help?” Cerberus peered over the medic’s shoulder. He had driven the blond elite off, forcing her to run off with her soldiers. She’d been rather unprepared for the tailed agent’s ferocity. West nodded, stuffing everything back into the first aid kit before slinging it over her shoulder. Cerberus nodded in response, before bending down to pick up his fellow agent. He started to sprint to the pelican, West trailing closely behind, York’s armour and her newly acquired tomahawks gathered in her arms.   
They made it to the pelican in record time, in which York was placed gently into a seat. Everyone else made it to the pelican within the next few seconds, throwing themselves into their seats. West winced in worry, watching York’s head loll around. The pelican took off as soon as everyone threw themselves in, speeding off into the clouds.   
As soon as they levelled out, a resounding boom sounded off in the distance behind them, the shock waves causing the pelican to rock slightly. West almost ripped her harness off, running over to York, where she carefully lowered him to the ground. She found almost everyone hovering worriedly, but she ignored it, instead unwrapping York’s outer bandages to apply a new layer. It didn’t look good. The first layer of bandages had been totally soaked red, smearing blood all over West’s gloves. His vitals were dropping. Not as fast as they were before, but they were still dropping. West swore, opening her first aid kit. She could use her cophenylcaine spray as a mild coagulant, but it wouldn’t do much good to stop wounds as deep as York’s. “York, York, talk to me mate. What about that date you were talking about?”  
She squeezed his shoulder, hard. No response. His blood pressure was really, really low. Pulling the man’s helmet off, she placed his head gently on the ground, reapplying the oxygen mask from earlier. Okay, she needed to do a baseline set of vitals. She pulled out a notepad, scribbling out the vital signs that she had taken initially. Mumbling to herself, she started to take a new set.  
“Bp, 87 on 50, pulse, 120. BSL, 2.6. Pupils… not responding. Resp rate, 7. Oxy sats, 86.” She threw her pad to the side, along with the pen. She had done all she could to stop the bleeding. She was dealing with the oxygen saturation. She couldn’t do anything for the blood pressure, pulse or resp rate. His blood sugar level… she could deal with that. In her first aid kit, she had a tube of glucose gel. She would need to deal with it sooner or later, his low blood sugar, or else he could go into hypoglycaemic shock. That was not ideal. It could be extremely dangerous, and could cause seizures.   
Pulling off his oxygen mask, she smeared a decent amount of the gel on the inside of his lips, where it would be easily absorbed. Then she sat back, pausing. There wasn’t much else she could do, except try keep York as stable as possible.   
“Will... will he be okay?” North’s face was drawn, pinched tight with worry. West shrugged. That probably seemed a bit callous, but she had to maintain a certain level of… separation from her casualties. She never allowed her emotions to get in the way of her job. She’d worry later.  
“I’ve stabilised him as best I can, but his vitals are very low. I’ve got the healing unit, so we can use that in an emergency.”  
South growled. “Why don’t you just fucking use it now? He’s dying!”  
West proceeded to take another set of vitals. “I’ve had men survive much worse than this. He’s critical, but he’s stable. Unless he gets worse, I won’t use it. I only have one. I can probably keep him stable until we get back to base.”  
“…probably?” Wash frowned, eyes widening slightly. West closed her mouth and shook her head, refocusing. Then she sighed. It was going to be a long trip back…

Thankfully, York had remained in a more or less stable condition for the flight back. The bleeding had mostly stopped, for which West was glad. She hadn’t needed to use the healing unit. They were almost back at the Mother of Invention. Doc was on standby with a stretcher, having received West’s radio call from about half an hour ago. He was with his friend and fellow agent, Agent Donut, who was going to help with the stretcher. West hadn’t met him before, but apparently, he was just as odd as the rest of the Agents in his squad.   
As the pelican touched down, Doc rushed on board with Donut and the stretcher. West nodded to Doc, and the two of them got to work, with West taking the lead this time. It was near midnight, but the hangar was still pretty crowded, with people busting around everywhere. The two medics loaded York up into the stretcher, and with the help of Donut and Cerberus, they picked him up and started to carry him to West’s med bay. As they were carrying him, a spread of warmth passed through West. This was her place. Her West End. She couldn’t help but chuckle, shaking her head at Doc, who gave her a really confused look.  
Together, with the help of Doc, Donut and Cerberus, they loaded York into the healing unit. West really hoped this wasn’t going to become commonplace. She didn’t feel like loading people into the healing unit every second day. They had stripped York of his armour, removed the bandages and his under suit, and had left the machine to do its work.   
Doc looked over the machine before glancing over at the other medic. She looked dead on her feet, along with the other agent. He smiled. “Go get some rest, West. I’ll look after York.”  
She smiled, tiredly. “Thanks Doc. I owe you one.”   
He laughed, making shooing motions with his hands. “Shoo! Go get some sleep. You too, Cerberus.”  
The dark grey agent laughed, waved, and made for the door. West smiled and did the same.  
“I’ll see you later, Doc. Thanks for the help.”


	6. Chapter 6

It was about six in the morning when West was dragged from her sleep. It had always been like this; she would always sleep rather restlessly after missions. And besides, she was worried about York.   
The medic groaned, rubbing her hand over her eyes sluggishly. Breakfast wasn’t for an hour yet. She would try get back to sleep, but she had a feeling that she wouldn’t be able to catch much sleep. She was still exhausted from having to deal with two injured casualties in such a short period of time, but she shrugged it off. No point in complaining about it.  
Sitting up, she grumbled and moved for her armour. Well, if she wasn’t going to get to sleep, she would go check up on York and Doc. Throwing her armour on slowly – it had been left in a discarded pile after yesterday – she made her way to the door. It was dead silent in the corridor, aside from the soft humming and buzzing of machinery. Walking quietly, she made it to the infirmary in only a few minutes, since she didn’t need to contest with other people for the corridor.   
It was just as quiet in the infirmary as it was in the hallway. She could see a purple shape in her office, lying down on the bunk in there, and York in the healing unit, his armour piled up in the corner. And, what was this? West couldn’t help but smile at the cyan agent, curled up in a chair that had been dragged over to the healing unit. Carolina was in her under suit, armour in the corner next to York’s. She was curled up in the chair, arms wrapped around herself as she slept.  
West smiled, and as carefully as she could, pulled a blanket from one of the closest, draping it over her fellow agent. Carolina seemed like the type of person to be a light sleeper, so West was as slow and careful as she possibly could be. Then, with a smile and a shake of her head, she retreated from her med bay, back into the corridor. 

At seven, on the dot, West made her way into the mess hall. Being careful not to be seen, she piled up three trays of food before creeping out of the mess hall. She didn’t want to be reprimanded by the cook, who was a massive, heavy set man who always seemed to have a knife on hand or very close by. She only had two hands, so she had to balance her tray of food on her head with the other two in her hands.   
It so happened that West bumped into Wash and North on the way from the mess hall. She turned a corner, and ended up crashing into a very solid person, which happened to be North. She almost dropped her trays, but Wash caught the one on her head while she caught the other two. North looked at the medic and smiled.  
“What do we have here?” The blond chuckled as his friend steadied herself. The woman shook her head and grinned.   
“Carolina’s with York in the med bay. I didn’t think she’s be inclined to leave, so I was going to bring her and Doc some breakfast.” She smiled and leaned back on her right leg, hand on hip with tray in hand. “You guys want to join me?”  
Wash chuckled, handing West her tray of food. “Are we becoming a bad influence, WA?”  
West rolled her eyes. “Are you going to come or not?”  
North put a hand on Wash’s shoulder. “Give us ten minutes to get some food for ourselves, and we’ll meet you there. Okay?”  
The woman smiled, rebalancing one of the trays back on her head. “’Kay, I’ll see you in ten minutes.”

The med bay was exactly the same as how she had left it when she returned, except that Carolina and Doc were now awake, having being woken by the ‘breakfast bell.’ When West walked in, she saw Doc taking a set of York’s vitals, with Carolina looking tiredly on. She didn’t look like she had gotten much sleep. She was still as alert as ever, with the quite whisper of the door alerting the agent to the medic.  
“West, why do you have a plate of food balanced on your head?” She raised an eyebrow, looking both confused and tired. West smiled, handing on of the plates to her.  
“I didn’t think you’d want to leave York on his own.” She turned to Doc, who had finished taking York’s vitals. “Here, I got you a tray too, Doc.”  
The other medic smiled, widely. “Thank you West. York’s recovering well. He lost a lot of blood, but his vitals have started to return to normal. He should be fine and waking up soon.”  
West nodded. “Thanks Doc. I should be fine to take over. You can go get some rest and head back to your med bay.”  
Doc smiled, picking up his tray before sitting on one of the beds in the room. Carolina paused before picking up her tray and recrossing her legs underneath her and begun to eat. She nodded her thanks to West, who smiled. She wanted to wait for North and Wash before eating, to be polite. Speaking of the devil, the two strode in, trays of their own in their hands.   
“’Lina! What’s up?” North smiled, walking over to sit next to the other redhead. The woman smiled tiredly.  
“I’m fine, North, thank you.”  
Wash came over to sit next to West. He smiled at her. “How are you going, West?”  
The medic smiled. “I’m alright. Just a bit pooped after yesterday.”  
“’pooped’?”  
She rolled her eyes, smiled. “Yeah, pooped. Never heard that phrase before?” She laughed. “It means I’m tired, Wash.” She smiled sheepishly, picking at her food. “Sorry, my words can be a bit strange.”  
“You were born on Earth, weren’t you?”  
The medic nodded. “Yeah. Haven’t been back there in years.” She smiled ruefully. “I joined the UNSC, did my medic and doctoral training, and left.”  
Wash gave her a curious look. Everyone in the med bay was looking at them now. “Why?”  
“Hm? Why what?”  
“Why did you leave?”  
The medic shrugged. “I wanted to actually do something. To make a difference. And it just so happened that I was good at keeping my head and saving people.” She smiled. “That’s why I joined the army, anyway. I’ve always been rather patriotic.”  
“Why join Project Freelancer though?” North gazed at the medic curiously. Most of the Freelancers had actually joined the program straight out of the army, though most had their individual reasons.  
“My squad was attacked one day. We were on a recon mission. It was only supposed to be low-key, but we had bad intel and were unprepared. Twenty people. Only I survived, and that was only because I got shot in the side and played dead.” She sighed, running her hand through her hair. Glancing at the other agents and smiled, sadly. “After that, it didn’t feel like the army had anything left for me. So, when the Councillor approached me, I figured “what the hell” and took the job.” She shrugged. “That’s why I’m here, anyway. Wash, stop looking at me like that. I’m fine.”  
Wash frowned, placing a hand on the medic’s shoulder. “You don’t need to do that to yourself, West. We’re here for you if you need us.” North and Doc nodded their assent.   
“Yeah, West, don’t be afraid to come to us if you need us.” North smiled. “That’s what friends are for, right?”  
“Yeah!” Doc smiled at his fellow medic. Carolina smiled and nodded.   
“You are our medic after all. If we don’t take care of you, who’ll take care of us?”   
West smiled. How had she made so many friends in only a few days’ time? “Thanks guys. That means a lot to me.” She shook her head, trying to dispel the gloom. “Shouldn’t you guys get ready for training?”  
She chuckled when almost everyone, except Carolina, groaned loudly. North looked like he wanted to smack his face into his hand. “Don’t remind us, West! Besides, you get out of it, since you need to watch over York.”  
At that, West grumbled and pulled a face. “It’s so boring though! I can’t do anything while York’s in the healing unit except maybe clean or do paperwork.” She flopped on the bed, sighing melodramatically before pointing a finger at Wash and North. “You guys have to come visit later, okay?”  
Wash and North chuckled. “Sure. We’ll come visit after training.”  
Carolina tutted at the two. “No, you won’t. We have that extended AI class, remember?” She turned her attention to West. “By the way, West, I have some work for you to catch up on. The Councillor gave it to me to give to you. It’s the final test for your advanced healing unit and AI maintenance.”  
West groaned along with Wash and North. Doc just chuckled while Carolina gave them a sly smile. After a moment, the purple medic and cyan agent stood up, trays in hand. Carolina motioned with her head to the door. “Come on you two, we’ve got training to get to. West, I’ll drop your work off on the way to the training hall.”  
Wash sighed while North only grinned and waved goodbye at West. “We’ll see you later, West.”

It took her nearly two hours, but West had finally finished the tests that Carolina had dropped off. As preparation for her involvement in Project Freelancer, she had been studying and preparing in advance for the equipment and artificial intelligence that she would receive. She had had a serious amount of work to catch up on, but in the transition period between transferring between the army and Project Freelancer, she had been studying as much as possible so she would be able to use her equipment in the field. The other agents already had their equipment programmed into their armour, but without a suitable AI, could only use it for short periods of time, such as when Cerberus used his cloaking in the battle yesterday.   
But once she finished and passed these tests… yes! She was done! With a laugh, the agent stood and stretched gratefully. Walking over to the pneumatic duct, she wrapped her tests up, posting it to the Councillor. He expecting it, anyway. With a grin and a nervous laugh, she sent it off with a flourish.  
Now that that was over, and provided she got more than 90% correct, she could finally be ready to receive her own AI. Most of the other agents, like North, York and Cerberus were being prepped for their own AI’s at the moment, but West figured it would be a while until she received her own.   
She shook her head and smiled. She was pretty excited to receive an AI. Apparently, she was going to receive one that would be able to help her in the field when treating casualties. West didn’t really think she needed help, but it would be nice to have the extra assistance.   
Walking over to the bunk next to the healing unit, West sat down, picking up a previously discarded book. She’d already read the old thing a million times over, but it would keep her occupied. It had been a pretty slow day so far, with only two soldiers popping in for band aids. They had been sparring with combat knives and had gotten a bit too excited. West had treated their cuts and had sent them on their way. Otherwise? Pretty quiet.  
She had to admit, it was nice to have some peace and quiet. It was almost serene in the med bay, with only the beeping of the healing unit echoing throughout the room. The medic smiled, chuckled.   
This was her place.

A few hours later, a small note came through on the pneumo. The thunk echoed loudly around the room, alerting the medic, who had started to doze off on her bunk in her office. West ran over to it, finding it to be a note from the Councillor.  
“Dear Agent West Australia, thank you for your tests. You have received 91% for your AI test and 93% for your equipment test. Congratulations. You will now be placed on the waiting list for AI implantation.   
Have a nice day,  
Councillor.”  
West snorted. He even signed his letters with the name ‘Councillor.’ Really? Then again, she’d probably sign documents here with her agent name, so she couldn’t comment.   
But then she laughed. “Yes! I passed!” Grinning wildly, she spun in a circle, laughing slightly. It was probably an overreaction, but it would mean that she wouldn’t have to retake the test. She was defiantly grateful for that.  
Smiling, she glanced over at the healing unit. York still hadn’t woken up. West wasn’t worried; the man had lost a lot of blood, but it was still a bit unnerving seeing York unconscious like that. She was more used to seeing him smiling and laughing, not dead still in the healing unit. West shook her head. Hopefully he wouldn’t wake up at three in the morning. She actually wanted to get a decent night’s sleep tonight, probably in her bunk in her office.   
The medic glanced at the clock and scowled. 4.39pm. She’d missed lunch, having been cooped up in the med bay, watching over York. Oh well, she’d just hassle North and Wash to bring her food when they came to visit.  
Speaking of her friends, where were they?   
“West! We need your help!”  
The medic sighed. Speak of the devil…  
A moment later after hearing North’s voice, the door slid open, revealing Wash and Cerberus propping up a slightly groggy Maine. West blinked in surprise, but went to help the other agents. From what she had seen, Maine seemed like a tough guy, so she supposed it would be really difficult to injure him like that. Cerberus seemed to realise what West was thinking, because he sighed and glared at his friend.  
“Maine had locking paint on his helmet and ran straight into the training room wall. Sigma, why the hell didn’t you warn Maine?” Cerberus almost seemed to growl the words, staring fixedly at the small, fiery, glowing person that had appeared on Maine’s shoulder. He looked like a tiny devil of some sort.  
“Agent Cerberus, Maine did not request my assistance.” The AI, Sigma, tilted his head – was it a he?- at the agent, speaking in a voice that was beginning to freak West out. It sounded like multiple voices at once, but a lot scarier. West shook her head. She needed to help Maine, not get confused about a tiny demon baby AI. Walking over to the cupboard on the wall, she pulled out some saline and some gauze, along with a pen light torch. Maine was bleeding on his temple, from a rather large cut. He must’ve cracked his helmet somehow. In the background, Cerberus and Sigma were arguing with one another, with Wash standing a few awkward steps away from them. He raised an eyebrow at West, a silent offer of help, but she shook her head. She didn’t need any.  
Walking back to the bed, she instructed Maine to lean back against the wall, shooing Cerberus away from the huge, bald man. The other agent retreated, before perching on another bed, worriedly. Wash hovered nearby, watching. Sigma still sat at Maine’s shoulder, so West instructed him to leave.   
“Sigma, I’m going to have to ask you to return to Maine’s armour. You are distracting.”  
The red AI nodded; “Of course. My apologies.” Before he disappeared back into the white agent’s armour storage unit. West nodded to herself before she started to clean the cut on the man’s head. He didn’t react, only growled softly. Well, so long as he stayed still, West could treat him fine, and after a few minutes, the medic had finished. She then ran through the procedures for head injuries, checking the man’s pupil reflexes and sight. With nothing apparently unusual, West stepped back and nodded.   
“You should be fine, Maine. Just make sure you keep your cut clean and if you start feeling dizzy, nauseous, having double vision or anything out the ordinary, come back at once.” She looked to Cerberus. “Can you keep an eye on him?”  
The dark grey agent nodded and smiled, tail flicking nervously. “I’ll make sure he’s okay.” Helping his friend up, he turned back to the medic. “Are you coming to dinner tonight?”  
At the mention of food, West’s stomach decided to make itself know. She laughed sheepishly. “Sorry, I haven’t eaten since breakfast. I would, but I’ve got to look after York.”  
Wash smiled, chuckling. “Want us to bring you some food, West?”  
“Oh, yes please.”  
The other agent grinned and nodded, before turning back to Cerberus. The tailed man nodded, and together with Maine, they started to make their way back – to what West presumed – was the training hall. West shook her head. “Don’t do anything stupid, you three!”


	7. Chapter 7

As the days passed, West found herself slipping into a routine. York had woken after the second day, thankfully – he had been totally confused and disorientated, as he didn’t remember falling unconscious. West had explained everything to him, but otherwise, he was fine. The scarred freelancer had been swamped in the med bay after West announced that he had woken up, with plenty of people coming to see if he was alright. West had to shoo most of them off, as they were loud, dirty and were cluttering up her med bay.  
She scowled as she swept up the dirt that littered the ground. Most of the freelancers had popped in at some point to say hello, and seemed to have brought all the dirt on the ship to this one room. The medic grumbled as she swished the broom. York had left that morning, with West having cleared him and declaring him fit for duty again. Carolina had come to pick him up.   
She had to say, it was entertaining watching York around Carolina. He really did seem rather love-struck, and West could spy a blush on the man as she told him what he had started rambling when he had been injured. West grinned wickedly, making eye contact with her friend, who had given her a hard stare. She almost laughed. She did love teasing people sometimes.   
But now that York had left the med bay, things had become rather quiet again. As she had said, she seemed to be falling into a routine; wake up, go to breakfast, head to the med bay, stuff around until she was needed, get lunch, stuff around more, go to dinner then go to bed. But now that the med bay had quieted down and the next mission wasn’t for a number of days, West was being made to go to training with the other freelancers.   
West had to say, she wasn’t looking forward to it. She wasn’t used to training with people, or at least, she hadn’t trained with others in a very long time, ever since she first joined the UNSC. And, the idea of the training board annoyed her. They were supposed to be working together, not creating a divide between them. She shook her head and scowled. At least she would be with her friends. 

Apparently, Carolina usually ran the training with the freelancers, so West knew that everyone was going to be put through their paces. She didn’t think she’d get a free run because she was the new kid. In the training hall, at 8 on the dot, most of the freelancers were milling around, waiting for everyone else to rock up.   
West wandered in, not really expecting what was going to happen. As soon as Carolina entered, she started yelling orders and instructions. To West’s satisfaction, she looked like she was keeping out of training, resting her sore ankle. The cyan agent had come in the day after the mission, asking for painkillers for her ankle. She had aggravated it, but West wasn’t surprised. Carolina didn’t seem like the woman to do things by halves. West was similar.   
“Oi, Carolina! Why the hell aren’t you training?!” South yelled at the cyan agent as she started off everyone with thirty laps around the training hall. Carolina scowled at the purple agent as they ran past. She was sitting down, helmet next to her on the ground. “What gives you an excuse?”  
West rolled her eyes, calling out to the purple agent. “I did, South. Carolina sprained her ankle and pushed it a bit too hard the other day. I’m making her rest for a few days.” She paused, puffing. God, her stamina was shit. “So that means, no training.”  
South scowled, shaking her head. Thankfully, the blond woman didn’t argue. After they had finished their laps, FILLIS opened a compartment, revealing a number of massive weights attached to the wall. West scowled as most of the freelancers headed to their weights of choice. The medic saw Maine go for the massive dumbbells, which must’ve been at least 150 kilograms. She winced at that, but cautiously picked up the 25 kilogram dumbbells. Carolina was at a wall terminal when suddenly, dubstep was being blasted through the room. She didn’t even have to say anything for the freelancers to begin using the weights; most of them had already memorised the routine after Carolina running the same routine. Every. Single. Time. Since West hadn’t done the training before, she kinda hung around at the back, watching the other Freelancers. She could already feel her arms beginning to ache.  
West had to say, she hated training. When she stumbled into the classroom afterwards, she almost collapsed on the desk that she had been assigned to. Cerberus sat next to her with a slight laugh and nudged her shoulder slightly. She groaned and grumbled at the dark green and grey agent who just laughed. Laughed!   
“I hate you.”  
Cerberus grinned, poking the medic in the shoulder. “What’s wrong, West? Tired?” The woman just grumbled and said nothing, cradling her head in her arms. She wasn’t weak, by any means, but ugh, Carolina’s training was intense. She shook her head and chuckled. She would get used to it.   
The chatter in the room finished as the Director stalked in, the Councillor a step behind. West had been studying the AI course independently, so it would be interesting to see what learning in a classroom would be like. Over the past week or so, including the day when West had arrived, the freelancers had been receiving their AI’s, but only a handful of the agents had actually received their ‘fragments.’ York was receiving his today, which was why the scarred agent was absent from the small classroom. North was supposed to receive his soon, along with Cerberus. Carolina had already received an AI, but had instead given Sigma to Maine to help him communicate after he was shot in the throat multiple times during a mission. That had been the AI West had met when Wash and Cerberus had brought the huge agent in the other day. West shivered slightly. She hoped that her AI wouldn’t be as creepy as Sigma. She wasn’t sure if she could deal with something like that in her head.  
“Agents, today we will be talking about the concept of AI rampancy. If you look down at your screens, you’ll see the four stages…” The Councillor started the lesson with a monotonous voice. West sighed. This was going to be really boring… 

West was sure she was starting to doze off when her radio crackled loudly, alerting her to an incoming radio call. She scrambled up, just as everyone turned to stare at the medic. The Director turned his piercing green –eyed gaze towards the woman. “Agent West Australia, you are interrupting this class. You are supposed to turn your radio off during these classes.”  
West resisted the urge to roll her eyes, instead clicking on her radio, letting it echo around the classroom. Everyone fell silent as Doc’s voice – along with gunshots and the roar of a pelican – shouted through the communication device. “West, West! Can you hear me?!”  
“Doc, I am receiving you loud and clear.”  
“Oh, thank god. I need you to be on immediate standby! I’ve got two critical patients – Simmons, keep that pressure on Grif’s neck! Tucker, stay still and keep that pelican steady! Junior will be fine, once I’m done with him!” Halfway through, Doc’s voice changed to a more crazed, frantic version of itself. What the hell? “O’Malley, I don’t have time for this!”  
“Doc, stay calm. What equipment do you want me to get?”  
“Be prepared for bullet wounds and plasma burns.” Abruptly, the radio started to blank out. “Sarge, something’s happening with the –“   
West swore, jumping up. “Shit!” She tried activating her radio, but she couldn’t get a clear signal. “Of for fuck’s sake! Doc, Doc, come in. Can you read me?”  
There was no response. West swore and ran her hands through her hair. “Director, what mission were the Reds and Blues going on?”  
The Director was very stony-faced. He didn’t seem worried, rather angry. “They were on a mission to retrieve alien technology from an abandoned planet.”  
The Councillor continued with the Director’s comment. “We received intelligence that one of the planets in the outer systems may have been the location for an alien base. We sent Agent Tucker and his son with their squad to investigate. It seems that they encountered some resistance.”  
“No shit, mate!” West turned towards the door. “Do you know when they may arrive back?”  
The Councillor frowned, annoyed at the Agent’s language. “No.”  
“Okay. I’m going to go be on standby. I may need some help, so I’m going to have to take some Agents with me.”   
Both the Councillor and Director stared at the medic, before the Director nodded stiffly. “You may take Agent Cerberus, Agent Maine and Agent North.”  
West nodded. “Okay, come on, we need to get some equipment.” The three agents nodded and stood, following West as she hurried out the door. 

In the med bay, West hurried around, collecting any equipment that she believed might be helpful. North waited by the door while Cerberus sat on one of the beds while Maine stood next to his friend. They had mostly been silent until then, when North piped up. “You know, West, you probably shouldn’t act like that around the Director and the Councillor. They didn’t seem very happy with your attitude.”  
West shrugged as she picked up a scoop stretcher before tossing it to North. “I’m not bothered about what they think of me. They hired me for my skills, not my attitude.” She smiled as she picked up another scoop stretcher. “Besides, their attitudes aren’t the best either.”  
North shook his head and smiled, while Maine growled in something like… agreement? “Can’t argue with that. Now, shouldn’t we get down to the hanger?”   
“Yeah. Come on.”


	8. Chapter 8

The hanger was as busy as it usually was. The hangar operation managers had prepared an area for the Reds and Blues, and now everyone was just waiting for the pelican to come back. West sighed, sitting tiredly on a massive metal box with North. Cerberus and Maine were lounging around on the ground, communicating through their… growling? They had been there for just over an hour.   
“How long are we going to be here for? It’s getting close to dinner.” Cerberus grumbled, leaning dejectedly against his huge friend. Maine just kind of sat there solidly, allowing the sandy blond to fiddle with his armour absentmindedly. West sighed and smiled.   
“You guys can go get dinner if you want. I’ll stay here, but if they show up, you’ll need to come back right away.” West smiled as North stood up and groaned, stretching. Cerberus and Maine stood as well, albeit more slowly and quietly. North smiled at West.  
“Do you want us to bring some food for you on our way back?”  
The medic shook her head and smiled. “It’s alright, I can wait. I’ll get some food later.”  
The purple agent shrugged. “Up to you. We’ll be back soon.” Together, the three male agents made their way to the door, in the direction of the mess hall. West sighed and rested her cheek heavily against her palm. She wasn’t sure when Doc and his crew would arrive, so she would wait as long as needed. 

“West. West, come on, wake up!” She could hear a voice talking to her as she was roughly shaken awake. Grumbling, she swiped at the person. Sitting up, she saw Wash and North watching her worriedly.   
“Oh, hey guys, what’s up?” She rubbed her eyes tiredly, checking the time. Just past midnight. Ugh, she must’ve fallen asleep waiting for the pelican. She would’ve woken up if it was here. Wash and North looked rather worried though, so West sat up straighter, shaking herself awake. “Guys, what happened?”  
North sighed, his face looking uncharacteristically gloomy. “The Reds and Blue’s pelican… it hasn’t returned. It should’ve been here by now. The Director’s calling an emergency meeting in the war room. We were sent to get you.” Uh-oh. That couldn’t be good. West nodded, stood, picking up her equipment. Wash and North helped silently, taking a stretcher each.   
Together, they made their way to the war room, where the other Freelancers, Director and Councillor were waiting, grouped around the holographic table in the centre. Surprisingly, York was there, along with a tiny, glowing green figure hovering next to his shoulder. That must’ve been his new AI. West, North and Wash filed in silently, and a space in the circle opened up for them. Once everyone was present, the Councillor began speaking.  
“As you are aware, the Red and Blue squad was on a mission to retrieve abandoned alien technology from an unnamed planet in the outer colonies. We had received intelligence that there was technology similar to Agent Tucker’s energy sword that could possibly be reverse engineered into weapons that may be used against the Covenant forces in the Great War. Yesterday was the last known contact with the pelican, in which Doctor Dufrene contacted Agent West Australia to request that she remained on standby to prepare for emergency casualties. Transmission cut off halfway through.”  
The Councillor paused, allowing the Director to explain the rest of the information. “This will be a rescue mission, Agents. As the Covenant are not known for taking prisoners alive, we need to retrieve the armour and enhancements of the Agents that were on the mission-“  
“Excuse me, Sir?” West turned to look at Wash, who was crossing his arms. He looked like he was thinking about something. The Director turned his steely gaze on Wash, who only looked at the older man squarely.   
“Do you have something to add, Agent Washington?”  
“Sir, I don’t believe that they would be killed by the Covenant. Or, at least, not immediately.”  
“What makes you say that, Washington?” The Councillor turned his own, cool gaze towards the grey and yellow agent. Wash frowned.   
“Well, they had Junior with them, and Tucker, too. I doubt they’d try kill one of their own, especially a youngster, and Tucker knows their language. So, they should be able to communicate with them.” He shook his head. “I don’t know if that’ll help, but it might give us a chance that they’ll still be alive.”  
Looking around the table, West could see the other agents nodding in agreement. The Director just frowned and continued on with the debriefing. “We will take two pelicans. Agent Carolina, you will take Agent Washington, Agent York, Agent Cerberus, Agent Texas and Agent West Australia, where you will track down and recover the lost agents. Delta knows their last known location and will inform you when you get on board. Agent North, you will take Agent South, Agent Florida, Agent Wyoming and Agent Maine, where you will investigate the planet’s surface and attempt to retrieve any alien technology that you can find. Both pelicans will leave as soon as possible. Is that understood?”  
Everyone nodded their assent. 

It was almost dead silent inside the pelican. The group had been flying for nearly an hour, but it was still nearly three hours until they reached the last known location of the Reds and Blues. Delta, the new AI, had been in the cockpit for about half an hour, discussing plans with Four-Seven-Niner and Carolina, while the rest of the Agents sat rather quietly. West could understand why. They were going to recover equipment from an unknown location with the possibility of encountering Covenant forces. And they didn’t know if their friends were alive.   
West sighed, resting her head on the back of the seat. She’d had actual time to pack for this mission, rather than doing a rush job like the last time. She’d also brought along her new tomahawks. West couldn’t lie; she was looking forwards to testing them out. But now wasn’t the time to be thinking about that.  
Rather abruptly, her stomach growled. Loudly, she might’ve added. Grumbling, she groaned to herself. She’d forgotten to eat dinner! She scowled at Wash as she heard him chuckle to her left.  
“Hungry, West?”  
“Oh shut up. I forgot to eat dinner.”  
York smiled from across the seats. “Maybe Wash has some food he’d like to share; test out how efficient the armour’s drainage system is?”  
Wash scowled at his friend. “Oh, shut up, you asshole.”  
Everyone chuckled as the atmosphere within the pelican began to lighten somewhat. West just shook her head and smiled when something like a protein bar nearly hit her in the head. She glanced over at Cerberus who was smiling sheepishly with a number of bars in his hands.   
“I swiped them from the mess hall. You know, to be prepared.” The sandy blond chuckled, throwing another bar to West, who tore into them gratefully. They tasted like sandpaper and felt similar to rocks, but food was food. She couldn’t be picky.  
“Thanks, Cerberus.”  
“No problem.”  
“West. Can I ask you a few questions about the War?” The silent, intimidating blond in the corner piped up, watching the medic with clear blue eyes. Texas. She hadn’t said a single word the entire trip.  
West blinked, but nodded. “Yeah, sure. What do you want to know?”  
Tex smiled, slightly, which probably surprised most of the freelancers in the pelican. “You’ve fought aliens before, haven’t you?”  
“Yeah, why?”  
“Can you tell us what we might be walking into? You probably have the most experience in dealing with the Covenant than any of us.”  
That was true. “It depends on if the Reds and Blues will be held on a ship or on the planet which they were exploring. The ships are extremely powerful. We’ll need to watch out for their defences when we get closer.”  
“Have you ever infiltrated one of their ships?”  
West winced. She had, but the mission had ended in almost complete failure. They’d lost nearly three quarters of their men, and that had been with a Spartan fighting with them. Thankfully, the red Spartan had managed to save the rest of their crew, but had sacrificed themselves in the process. West didn’t think she had met a more noble person. “Yes, but it… it didn’t end well.”  
Tex softened slightly, offering a sad smile. She’d probably seen a lot of shit as well. “I’m sorry.”  
West shook her head. “It’s okay. But, yeah, we managed to get in with the help of a Spartan. We were supposed to blow the ship up. We did, but the Spartan sacrificed themselves to save us.”  
Most of the freelancers blinked at the medic in shock. “You served with a Spartan?!” Wash seemed unbelievably surprised at that fact. West smiled.   
“Yeah, but only for a few missions. That’s how I know how to use this armour, mainly. The squad I served with used a similar model.” She paused, recollecting her thoughts. “The Covenant, it isn’t one species of alien, though. There’s a fair few different types, but they aren’t too hard to fight. Elites are the ones you have to watch out for. They have weapons similar to Tucker’s and can turn invisible.”  
York groaned. “You’re kidding.”  
West shook her head. “Nope.” 

Soon after, the atmosphere within the pelican became tense and gloomy again. West wasn’t sure what they would find. And the other group too – what would they find? They had apparently reached the planet, and had spotted the massive Covenant ship in the outer atmosphere, hovering around. They were still nearly an hour away from Doc’s last message, but Carolina had decided to prep the freelancers on what they were going to do, now that they knew that they needed to infiltrate the massive ship.  
“Four-Seven-Niner can’t risk getting the pelican any closer to the surface of the planet, so we’re going to have to use jetpacks to get there. Everyone’s used jetpacks before, yes?” Everyone nodded, Wash more gloomily than others, “Okay, good. When we encounter the ship, we’ll have to attempt to bypass their shields to get inside. Delta, any ideas?”  
The little green AI appeared at York’s shoulder. “From information Agent West Australia has told me, along with information from the freelancer databases, we should be able to bypass the shields by initiating a discharge of one of their plasma cannons.”  
Everyone paused. Then York piped up: “Delta, did you say ‘initiating a discharge?’”  
“Yes, York, that is correct. If we manage to make one of the cannons fire, the ship will have to lower its shields so they can fire without destroying their own shields.”  
“Well, shit.” Wash pulled a face.   
Tex looked back at West. “You had to do something similar, didn’t you?”  
The medic nodded with a sigh. “Yeah. It nearly killed us. We barely got through. Once the cannons fire, you have to be unbelievably quick.” She rubbed her right eye, tiredly. She was not looking forward to fighting the Covenant, especially since her last squad had been murdered in front of her. Wash nudged her foot and gave her a reassuring look, touching her arm slightly. He was worried.   
West smiled slightly and shook her head, before looking at Wash. She’d be fine. At least, she’d have to hold it together until they got back their agents. Then she could worry or stress or freak out. She’d do that later. Yes. Carolina also gave West a tight smile. She had read West’s report and after talking to the medic, had seen how much the death of her squad affected her, as much as she didn’t admit it.   
“We were talking about it earlier, and Four-Seven-Niner has volunteered to act as a distraction while we get ourselves into the ship.”  
There was a short pause before a strangled “What?!” came from the cockpit of the pelican.   
Carolina just sighed and shook her head. “No arguments, Four-Seven-Niner. We have to get inside. And I have faith in your ability to not get hit. You’ll get the ship to fire at least once, and then you will rendezvous with us once we retrieve either the equipment or the agents. West, you have your equipment?” The medic nodded. “Okay. We’ll split off into two groups. One group will act as a distraction while the other goes to retrieve the Reds and Blues. I’ll go with the second group. We’ll look for the Reds and Blues. West and Cerberus, you’ll come with me. Tex, York and Wash, you guys can cause a distraction. Understood?”  
“What sort of distraction, Lina?” York looked slightly concerned at Wash and Tex who both nodded. It was surprising that Tex was agreeing so readily with Carolina’s orders, given what York had told West about their feud.   
“Whatever attracts a lot of attention. I don’t know, break stuff. You’re good at that, York.”  
“Hey!”   
“Okay, are you guys ready? We’ll be leaving the pelican soon.”  
Everyone nodded. They weren’t too far away from Doc’s last location, and a compartment in the side of the pelican opened up to reveal a number of jetpacks. Carolina tossed one to everyone, so West attached it to her back with the strong magnets in the back of the pack. She also slung her first aid kit over her shoulder. She wasn’t worried about losing it. It was made of really strong material, some sort of fabric, but it was heavy duty. Then, she attached her tomahawks to her back.   
Good. She was ready to go.   
A resounding boom echoed around the pelican, accompanied by a flash of glowing purple. Oh, shit. The plane dipped sharply, missing another shot. How had the ship spotted them so quickly? On Carolina’s mark, the six of them rushed out the back of the pelican. It seemed like that they were having to accelerate their plans slightly, and the six freelancers sped towards the Covenant ship. West could see the plasma shield from here, sealing itself up. She also noticed the other plasma cannon beginning to glow, so she started to accelerate her jetpack towards the cannon. As West began to divert from the group, Carolina glanced over to see the medic heading to the now blinding cannon. As quickly as she could, she began to follow the medic, understanding what she was doing. Everyone else followed suit, and the cannon fired a moment later.   
West pushed her jetpack as hard it would go, managing to slip inside the shield’s interior with plenty of time left. She nearly crashed into the side of the ship, but instead landed on the purple metal with her magnetic boots. They managed to stick, thankfully. Carolina landed a moment later, with Wash crashing a few metres behind her. Tex landed silently, with Cerberus and York landing last, just as gracefully as Wash. Carolina took the lead instantly, motioning everyone to an opening in the side of the ship, where it appeared that vehicles were released. The group made it through the barrier with no effort, although West wouldn’t be surprised if their presence would be attacked soon.   
The hangar was a state of utter chaos. Grunt aliens were running everywhere, seemingly panicking. They also had their plasma weapons, so the instant they saw the freelancers, they opened fire. Thankfully, there seemed to be an artificial gravity field similar to the gravity on earth, so the moment West’s boots touched the ground, she pulled her tomahawks out and followed Carolina, who was sprinting to a door on the far side of the room. Cerberus bounded besides her, keeping pace almost effortlessly with his sprinting. She could hear Wash, York and Tex yelling to each other as they began to mow through the grunts, with Tex doing most of the killing. West could see her from the corner of her eye, a black shadow that killed every alien that moved. The medic shook her head. That woman was lethal. Thank god she was on their side.  
A needler’s spike shattered against West’s helmet as the three made it through the doorway. Thank the gods for her armour! It was strong enough to resist most of the alien’s attacks, but West knew that if she was hit in the weaker spots in her armour, it would not end well.   
She just hoped that the Reds and Blues were okay.


	9. Chapter 9

Once the three had made it a little way into the ship, Carolina let Cerberus guide the trio. He was much more adept than either of them for infiltrating an enemy ship, given his experience with mechanics and the Mother of Invention’s inner workings. The three were mainly communicating through hand signals; their helmets weren’t exactly soundproof, and West didn’t exactly feel like getting into a fight with an elite or brute or whatever they were called. The black and green freelancer had directed them into an air vent, since it would be much harder to detect the three. West grumbled at the freelancers crammed themselves into the tiny opening. She was in the middle, with Cerberus in the front and Carolina bringing up the end, and her first aid kit was making it very hard to move at anything faster than a crawl.   
To be honest, she had no idea where they were. She could hear the echoing screams of aliens dying, which almost rang through the air vent, but as they continued deeper into the ship, the medic eventually lost all bearing of where they were.   
After a while, Cerberus stopped, peering down into a room below them. Then, with an almost inhuman speed, he slipped through the vent, killing whatever was in the room. West jumped down a moment later to find three dead grunts on the ground and Cerberus at what seemed to be a computer terminal. He was typing quickly, and a moment later a holographic map appeared, hovering over the alien computer. Carolina landed on the ground a moment later.   
“How the hell did you do that?!” West was pretty shocked. She’d never met anyone who could hack alien technology. It was impressive. Cerberus smiled, sheepishly.   
“I’m good with computers. The Director made me learn how to from documents we picked up.” The blond turned back to the terminal. “This is a map of the ship. According to the computer’s AI, the Reds and Blues should be right… here.” He motioned to a glowing room, only a few hallways down from where they were now, according to Cerberus. He returned to the computer, typing something else on the holographic buttons. After a moment, the man straightened up, nodding to himself.   
“You downloaded the map to your armour?” Carolina crossed her arms, watching the other freelancer. He nodded, and her posture relaxed somewhat. “Okay, good.” Pausing, as if considering something, the cyan agent pulled a data chip from a pocket on her armour. “Can you download everything onto this data chip?”  
Cerberus paused for a moment, before nodding. “I can, but alien tech doesn’t usually react well with our technology. I even had trouble converting this map into a format I could actually use.”  
Carolina sighed. “Please, Cerberus?”  
The male agent shrugged before returning to the terminal. “Since the terminal doesn’t have a port for the data chip, I’m going to download everything into my armour’s storage unit before transferring it onto the data chip. It might take a few minutes.”  
Both female freelancers nodded, with West watching Cerberus work and Carolina positioning herself by the door with her battle rifle raised. It was fascinating watching Cerberus type, since West couldn’t read or write the alien languages used by the Covenant. She could speak it though. At one point, her squad managed to capture an elite alien, and it had been with them for a few months as a prisoner. With the help of a few other people in the squad, they had managed to learn a basic understanding of the alien’s language, Sanghelili, allowing the medic and the elite to communicate. It was surprising, after being able to communicate with the elite, to find that he was an exile. After fleeing from a major battle, he was afraid to go back to his people since they seemed to revere battle and one’s honour. The two had eventually become friends, but had parted ways a while ago, when West’s squad had been reassigned to a new post. She didn’t know where he was or where he had gone, but he had been a decent bloke, having once saved West’s life.   
But not all aliens in the Covenant were that forgiving. West knew that well enough, and had plenty of scars to prove it. The medic lifted her head as something like an intercom activated from some sort of speaker in the wall. It started spewing garbled noise before West was able to make out the noise into actual works. Sanghelili. They were speaking in Sanghelili.   
“What are they saying, Cerberus?” Carolina looked over to the black and green agent, but the man was too busy in his terminal to notice the cyan agent talking to him. West listened intently for a moment before shaking her head and giving a short laugh.  
“Bloody hell. Of course. What else would you expect?”  
Carolina narrowed in on West. “You can understand their language?”  
The medic nodded, smiling. “The Reds and Blues have escaped from their cells. That’s why everything is so chaotic at the moment.”  
“…what?” Carolina gave West what appeared to be a disbelieving look through her helmet before she shrugged. “Actually, knowing them, I’m not surprised. Did it say anything else?”  
West paused, just as another announcement came on. “They’re… in the armoury, I think. Cerberus?”   
“Hmm?” He raised his head, slightly, with his attention still locked on the terminal. He pressed a final button on the holographic terminal before looking up totally. “What’d you say, West?”  
“The Reds and Blues are in the armoury. Can you lead us there?”  
Cerberus paused, looking at the medic. “You can understand Sanghelili?”  
West sighed, exasperated. “Yes, I can understand Sanghelili. The armoury?”  
“Oh, yes.” He paused, probably looking at the map on his hud display. “It’s not too far away. If we take the air vent… yeah, I can get us there.”  
Carolina nodded, stiffly. “Right, let’s go.”

It must’ve been nearly twenty minutes crawling through those goddamn vents, stuck behind Cerberus and stuck in front of Carolina. West swore, that once she got out of this stupid place, she was never doing anything like this again, after she bumped her head accidently against the top of the vent for what seemed to be the sixtieth time. Of course, it didn’t hurt, given her helmet, but it was extremely annoying.   
Thankfully, according to Cerberus, they were near the armoury. West could have gathered that herself, given the amount of noise they were crawling towards. Yelling and screaming were the main sources of noise, mainly in the alien language. West just grumbled to herself. In her experience, running away from the battlefield was preferable to running towards the battlefield.   
A couple turns later and they were directly above the armoury, as Cerberus stopped, paused, and kicked open a vent before jumping down into the room. Yells of surprise echoed from the room as West and Carolina jumped down a moment later.   
The medic had to say, the Reds and Blues were sure as hell happy to see the three freelancers. West was happy to see the group as well, and she was pleased to note that everyone seemed to be alive. Well, mostly alive. A man, who West remembered to be Grif, was lying on the ground, bandages wrapped around his face and neck. Doc looked up before rushing over to his fellow medic.   
“West! Oh, thank god! I need your help.”  
West nodded, coming over to crouch next to the purple medic. Donut and Simmons were hovering anxiously, with Sarge and Church covering the door, with Caboose hovering nearby with his battle rifle he called Freckles, who happened to be a mantis class assault droid. Tucker was tending to what seemed to be an alien baby? Why was it with the Reds and Blues?  
That didn’t matter. Cerberus went straight over to the pair, beginning to talk to Tucker in a quiet tone. West refocused on Grif. Doc had stabilised the tanned and slightly overweight man, but blood still seemed to be seeping through the layers of bandages. That was never a good sign.   
Placing her first aid kit on the ground next to them, West pulled out some fresh supplies before helping Doc reapply Grif’s bandages. Sarge yelled something at the two from the door. “Are you two done lollygagging or can we get going?”  
“Just a minute, Sarge! We need to re-bandage Grif’s injuries.” Doc retorted back to the gruff Sargent. He just scowled, shaking his head and muttering something about letting Grif die. West just rolled her eyes and finished tying the crepe bandage, while Grif just mumbled something incoherent. Well, he was still making noise, so that was better than nothing, she supposed.   
Carolina came over to the medics before shrugging and picking Grif up and slinging him over her shoulder. West opened her mouth to exclaim before she winced. That was defiantly not the correct way to transport a patient! Doc seemed to be reflecting West’s expression, from his squawk of indignation. But, from what the others had told her, Grif was unbelievably heavy, so Carolina was probably the only person strong enough to lift the heavy man. Tucker picked up the injured baby alien, cradling it… or was it a him? Anyway, Tucker was carrying the alien.   
“Sarge, Simmons, Donut, I need you to clear a path for us. Cerberus, protect Tucker, since he has his hands full with Junior. Caboose, stay near Church. Church, stop grumbling. West, I’ll need you to watch my back, since I can’t move my arms. Doc, follow behind us. Is that understood?” Carolina shifted Grif on her shoulder into a more comfortable position, and everyone could feel her steely gaze through her helmet’s visor. West nodded before packing everything back into her first aid kit. She slung the bag over her shoulder before pulling out her tomahawks to nod, again, at Carolina.   
Sarge was positioned at the door, and with a sharp nod at Simmons and Donut, motioned for the maroon and pink solders to open the door. It slid open silently. It seemed to almost surprise the aliens when a plasma grenade was thrown into their faces, but West supposed that they were too dead to actually care. Sarge and Simmons finished off the remaining few grunts, Sarge blasting them to high hell with his shotgun and Simmons using a plasma rifle scavenged from the alien armoury. Caboose just trailed after Church, thankfully staying quiet. He was a good fighter, when he needed to be, but to West, Caboose seemed to have a few roos loose in the top paddock. Cerberus took the lead after that, with Tucker trailing close behind with Junior in his arms, since Cerberus had the only map. West was last, just behind Carolina, who had Grif slung over her shoulder. If she was uncomfortable, she didn’t complain. West shook her head. The other redhead really was a stubborn woman.   
Moving as quickly as they could, they were halfway back to the hangar when they ran into some… trouble. Shit. A number of elite Sanghelios were blocking the corridor, energy swords glowing very, very bright. Sarge opened fire and Donut threw another plasma grenade, but the three aliens jumped to the side, dodging both attacks. They were much stronger than humans and had much faster reflexes than humans, and made for some really deadly enemies. West almost growled. She really didn’t feel like dealing with this!  
It seemed that Cerberus didn’t feel like dealing with it either, as he let out a ferocious snarl before sprinting forwards, almost tearing through one of the aliens with his combat knife. Shoving her way to the front, West sprinted at the aliens as well, throwing her tomahawks as hard as she could. While it didn’t kill the alien, the medic jumped at the huge elite, and with her momentum, she managed to slam him to the ground with her feet. The alien moved to throw her off, but West slammed her foot onto the already impaled tomahawk, effectively splitting the elite’s head open. The sight made her feel queasy, but she had to ignore it as she rushed to help Cerberus, who was grappling with the other two elites, one of which who was almost dead. West finished that one off while Cerberus killed the other elite, leaving the two freelancers panting from exertion. It was not easy to kill elites, but thankfully, Cerberus was ruthless and West had done it before.   
They shared a glance before Cerberus nodded to West. He then started off quickly, again, and the group continued on. West dropped back to the back of the group, behind Carolina again, who gave her a sharp nod. West just sighed as the cyan agent started to radio Four-seven-niner to call for an immediate evac, due to the group’s proximity to the hanger. She really wanted off this goddamn ship.

They made it to the hangar a few minutes later to find the artificial gravity turned off. Carolina just yelled Wash’s name, as if that explained everything, and his strained “sorry!” came yelled from the other end of the hangar. West supposed that was a story for another time. Tex had effectively killed everything in the hangar except for an alien tank that was now taking pot-shots at the three freelancers, who were either running from the blasts or hiding. West could see Wash and York behind a purple alien ship called a ghost, and Tex was sprinting around the tank, trying to get on top of it. Carolina grumbled something before she sprinted towards the tank, using her magnetic boots to remain firmly attached to the ground. She had dropped Grif, who began floating, leaving him to the anti-gravity field, while she and Tex seemed to almost compete to destroy the tank. West just rolled her eyes and made her way to a massive alien ship near the front of the hangar, Cerberus in tow. She didn’t exactly feel like waiting for their pelican to arrive, since it would be another twenty minutes for Four-seven-niner to get there, and anything could happen in that time.   
“Cerberus, come on, let’s go hotwire this ship.”  
He paused, shrugged, then followed the determined medic, who had started to usher the Reds and Blues towards the purple ship. It was open, thankfully, so the group went straight inside. Cerberus went straight to the controls, beginning to fiddle around with them, when suddenly, the whole dashboard became illuminated with a deep blue light. Caboose was helping Cerberus, as he was surprisingly good with technology and vehicles. Doc had moved Grif into a semi-stable position, and Simmons was helping him while Tucker looked after the baby alien. Sarge was positioned by the entrance, shotgun at the ready.   
Looking out the window of the ship, West could see the two female freelancers trying to take down the tank to no success. Even though the gravity field was down, the tank seemed to have the same magnetics grips as the freelancer boots. The medic rolled her eyes, beginning to skirt around the outside of the hangar, keeping out of sight. Once close enough, she ran up to the tank before leaving a little ‘gift’ in way of an activated plasma grenade. The grunts operating it were blown sky high while West ran over to Wash and York, beginning to drag them back to the ship. Carolina and Tex could make their own way there.  
Once on board, West went straight for the cockpit, where she found Cerberus and Caboose with the active ship. Carolina stormed in just as West took over the controls from Cerberus who gave them willingly. He didn’t want to fly the ship.   
“Why are we here? We were going to wait for our evac!” Carolina growled just as West powered up the alien ship. It rose steadily, and West managed to get it moving. She had flown before, but… well… she was absolutely horrible at flying ships or driving vehicles, human or not. She would ask Tucker, who seemed to have experience with the alien tech, but he was dealing with Junior.   
“Carolina, I just want to get out of here. And just think, won’t the Director be somewhat pleased at us having stolen an alien ship?”   
The cyan agent glared at the medic, who was instead focused on flying out of the hangar. She managed to get the ship out of the hangar, and once in the atmosphere, pressed the button that increased the acceleration. The ship shot forwards instantly, and thanks to the law of inertia, slammed everyone who wasn’t sitting down into the back wall. West could hear some rather angry yells, the main one from an enraged Carolina, who West could feel glaring at her back.   
The medic swore as some sort of alarm started blaring, indicating… something. She really wasn’t sure, but by the sound of the massive ship behind her, she guessed it was a plasma cannon being fired. She turned the controls sharply upwards, just managing to spot the blast sail right past their ship. Everyone crashed into the floor again, but West ignored that and rather focused on getting out of the atmosphere as fast as possible. Carolina was yelling something at Four-seven-niner, telling her to follow them rather than head towards the Covenant ship.   
Another cannon discharged, so West swung the ship around, managing to miss the blast again. God, she was so on edge. She absolutely hated driving. Why was she doing this?  
Oh, right. Because she was the only one who could fly a Covenant ship.   
Fucking hell.


	10. Chapter 10

“Well, shit.”  
Cerberus looked up at the medic, who was pulling a rather worried face. They had been flying for a few hours now, and were nearly back at the Mother of Invention. It was safe to say, West was now banned from flying anything. She had almost decompressed the ship, had shut of life support at least twice and had thrown everyone off their feet at least six times. But she was the only one with the proper experience with the alien ship, since she had flown on in the war. Still, that had been a really big emergency. So, yeah. No more flying for West. “What?”  
The medic grinned sheepishly. “I don’t know how to land this thing without crashing.”  
Cerberus paused. “You’re kidding.”  
The two of them had been sitting in the cockpit while everyone else was hanging out in the back of the ship, with Cerberus keeping West company while flying. The medic shook her head. “Yeah, well, I’m not. Do the controls say anything?”  
Cerberus wandered over, beginning to look at the controls. After a few minutes, he shook his head, scratching the back of his head in confusion. “It doesn’t say a thing!”  
West pulled a face, thinking. Then, she shot up in her seat with a grin. “I know! What if, once we’re close enough, we cut the engines? Then, once we’ve stopped accelerating, we can get the pelicans to guide us into the hangar? It should fit the ship.”  
The male freelancer paused for a moment before nodding and grinning. “That might work! Let’s call it in and get the proper back up.” He scampered off, placing his helmet on to call Command. He returned a few minutes later. “We’ve got the backup! Four-seven-niner and another pelican will guide us in.” He paused before grinning. “Hey! That’s Erith and N’s pelican!”  
“N and Erith?”  
Cerberus shook his head and smiled. “Agent Nebraska and Agent Erith. They were on a recon mission; that’s why you didn’t see them when you arrived. That happens sometimes. But, well… their mission took longer than expected to complete.” The man laughed, shaking his head. When West shot him a questioning look, he smiled and explained. “They’re… interesting, but I guess that’s not the best explanation. You’ll see what I mean when you meet them.”  
West shrugged before turning her attention to the looming ship before her. Judging by how fast they were going and how far away the Mother of Invention was, they’d have to cut off their engines about now. West could see their pelican and the other freelancer pelican come alongside their alien ship, when magnetic grabs shot out from the side of each pelican to latch onto the side of the purple ship. There was a shudder and the beginning of a slow deceleration.

They managed to make it into the hangar with no problem, and thankfully, West manage to find the control that allowed them to leave the ship. Wash stumbled off, collapsed to the ground on his knees, saying something about never flying with West again. The medic just rolled her eyes. They were just being dramatic. She didn’t kill anyone, so she considered that a success.   
Almost instantly, Doc rushed off to the med bay, with Caboose carrying Grif somehow. Damn, that kid must’ve been strong. Grif had started bleeding on the way back, and Doc had been trying to stabilise the wound. Simmons went with the purple and blue agent, while Tucker rushed off in the same direction, apparently going to help the alien. Cerberus had explained on the way back – to West’s utter disbelief – that Junior was actually Tucker’s son. It sounded crazy, but was apparently entirely true.   
She shook her head. Humans giving birth to aliens. What next?!  
Well, Wash had gotten off the ground, and had started to make his way to the war room with York, Carolina and Tex. Apparently, the freelancers had to make a report after every mission, but West seemed to be exempt from that. Probably since she was the medic. The Reds and Blues were exempt from that as well, since apparently, they never did the paperwork anyway.  
The other two pelicans had landed safely, when a squeal of joy echoed out from the new freelancer pelican. West looked over to see Donut happily embracing a freelancer in purple and silver armour, not unlike North or South’s armour. The two embraced happily, before pulling back so the other agent could pull off their helmet. From what West could see, the agent was fairly young, with shortish brown hair pulled back into a low ponytail. Donut looked up to see West looking at the two, so he waved the medic over.  
“West! This is Agent Nebraska! I can’t believe you two haven’t met before; she’s totally the best baker on the ship, asides from me or Doc, of course.” His bright blond hair kept falling into his face as the young agent spoke excitedly. He always loved it when his friends met.  
The purple and silver agent laughed, extending her hand to the medic. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Agent Nebraska, but most people just call me N. You’re pretty new, aren’t you?”  
West smiled, shaking the agent’s hand. “Yeah, I’m the new medic-slash-doctor on board for the freelancers. I’m Agent West Australia, but most people just call me West.”  
“So you’re the new medic! I was wondering when you would arrive! Me and Erith, we’ve been on recon for the past few months on one of the remote desert planets, but we were told that you were coming. Hey, Erith, get out here! We’ve got a newbie!”  
West raised her eyebrow. “Newbie?”  
“Oh, sorry! But, well, you are.” The brunette turned her attention to the entrance of the pelican, where an agent in the most shocking armour colours appeared. Oh my god. She’d never seen anything like that. Teal armour with orange accents. The agent herself, however, was brunette with her short hair tied up into a small ponytail. She had a fairly notable scar on her eyelid. How the hell did she get that?   
The agent was grumbling and rubbing her eyes. “N, I was having a goddamn nap. Why the hell did you wake me up?”  
N waved her hand in West’s general direction. “New person.”  
The teal agent paused, focusing on West. “Wait, who the hell are you?”  
The medic sighed. “I’m West, the new medic. You’re Erith?”  
“Yep. Wait, how old are you?”  
“I’m 26. Why?”  
The agent scowled, almost comically, as she threw her hands in the air. As she disappeared back into the pelican, you could hear a yell of “Why is everyone always older than me?!”  
Nebraska shook her head and laughed. “Don’t mind her, she’s pretty cool once you get to know her. She’s kinda like our back up sniper or otherwise our primary sniper when North isn’t running missions.”  
The dinner bell suddenly chimed, so Donut started to push the female agents in the general direction of the mess hall. “Come on, you two! I can’t wait to see all the crew again! You can talk over dinner!”  
The two other agents laughed. West looked at N. “So, what do you do?”  
“Me? Well, I’m an expert hacker, but Cerberus is usually the one sent in first if they want to retrieve information. They usually send me in if, well, they want stuff broken.” N grinned sheepishly, almost tripping over her own feet. “I’m pretty good at it, so that must say something.”

The three agents made their way to the mess hall, where West spotted Wash and York eating and talking animatedly to each other. Good to see that Wash had recovered after flying with West. Donut ran off to go talk to some other soldiers, saying something about ‘strapping young men,’ but N said to just ignore anything strange that he said. Apart from those two, however, the mess hall seemed devoid of freelancers or agents.   
West and N were just sitting down at Wash’s table when suddenly the door of the mess hall flew open and Erith appeared, yelling, “GUESS WHO’S BACK, BITCHES!”  
Almost all the freelancers present collectively groaned, while West just smiled and shook her head. She turned to the others on her table. “Does she always do that?”  
York shook his head. “Not usually, but it happens often enough that it’s kind of expected.”  
Wash nodded, mouth full with food. Wash finished his mouthful, turning to smile at N. “How was the mission, N?”  
The purple and silver agent grinned. “Yeah, it went well! We just got caught up in having to recover the files since I accidentally deleted them from the main computer.” She slammed her head on the table. “It took so long to recover the files. I swear to god, if I see another goddamn terminal, it’ll be too soon.”  
Everyone at the table laughed, with N chuckling from her position on the table. The table eventually settled into some mindless chatter, when everything seemed to fall rather quiet. West looked up from her table to see the Councillor making a be-line towards their table. That was rather strange, as the Councillor never showed up at the mess hall. What was he here for?  
“Agents, it is good to see you back safely. Agent Nebraska, Agent Erith, I wish to see you in my office in twenty minutes. You were supposed to file your report, and we need it immediately. Agent West Australia, the Director wishes to see you in the surgery wing.”  
Erith grumbled, scoffing her food down as quickly as possible before grabbing N and dragging her to the exit. N waved and called goodbye. “I’ll see you later, West! Good to meet you!”  
West looked up at the Councillor. “Why does the Director want to see me?”  
The man sighed. “You have been scheduled for AI implantation, and you have been moved up the list.”  
West scrambled to her feet. That sounded like a big deal. “Okay, yeah, I’ll head there now.” She nodded and smiled to her friends on the table. “I’ll see you guys later, yeah?”  
The two freelancers nodded. “We’ll visit you later if we can, West. It’s not so bad once you get used to it.” York smiled and motioned towards his shoulder. West smiled and nodded while Wash said something along the lines of ‘good luck.’

It only took her a few minutes to find the surgery wing of the ship. It was near her own med bay, and West supposed it was where they mainly did their AI implantation. But why was she getting one now? It seemed very early.  
The Director was standing in the entrance of the room, watching as the technicians buzzed and milled around. He wasn’t really doing anything, rather just standing, but he turned to her as she raised her voice. “Sir? You called for me?”  
“Agent West Australia, you will receive your AI tonight. Get ready to be prepped for surgery. You have seen the procedure in your preparation for implantation?” He drawled in his severe accent, fixing his piercing green eyes on the medic. She nodded.  
“Yes, but why am I receiving the AI now? Wasn’t I further down on the list?”  
The Director gazed coldly at the medic before nodding to the operating theatre. “As you are aware, we nearly lost multiple sets of our armour and a huge amount of our technology. We need to have our agents operating at peak efficiency, and this includes being able to use our technology. As you are a vital part of the team, you have been moved up the roster as you need to be able to use the advanced healing unit in the field. Is this a problem?”  
The medic shook her head. “No, I’ll go get ready now then.”  
Almost immediately, a person appeared at the entrance of the room, dressed in a white lab coat. A surgeon, maybe? They motioned for West to follow them, where they lead her to a smaller, more cramped room, where they instructed her to leave her helmet and any non-essential items.  
The procedure would be a quick one. West, to be honest, was really surprised at how fast she had been moved up the roster; the Director really didn’t waste time. It had been only an hour since her team had gotten back, so why was she being pushed into surgery so fast? It was a bit dizzying. She must’ve already been scheduled for implantation quite soon, so the Director must’ve decided to bump her up the list when they were retrieving the Reds and Blues.   
All agents had neural implants in the back of their necks, which would allow them to host an AI. West had received hers when she had first applied for the job; it was mainly just a small, white chip in the back of her neck. This method of hosting an AI wasn’t reliable though, as it could send people insane, so the AI would be partly stored in her armour’s storage unit, partly stored in her neural implant.   
The surgeon lead West to a metal gurney, where he made her lay down. Almost automatically, she began running through what would happen in the surgery; she would be placed in an anti-grav field, and her AI would be placed in her neural implant while simultaneously being installed into her armour. Then, she would be placed into recovery, and left to deal with having another mind in her head.  
Great. This would be so much fun.


	11. Bonus story

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little side story on how West is such a horrific driver.

“Oh no. Please, don’t do this to me.” Cerberus drew his hands together, basically pleading, as he looked desperately at the Director, who stood across from him, frowning. West stood off to the side, her helmet clasped under her arm. She didn’t know why she had been brought here, only that Cerberus was apparently being punished for trying to steal cookies and orange juice from nearly all the med bays and kitchen on the ship.  
The Director sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Cerberus, as you know I don’t like to punish you, I will give you something more… unusual. I want you to patrol the Arcadia base while we resupply their food stocks.” The man motioned to West. “With West.”  
Cerberus could almost feel the ground dropping away from him. Everyone knew that West was the worst driver on the Mother of Invention. She had been banned from driving any sort of vehicle, which annoyed her, since she shared the ban with Caboose. She was worse than Caboose!  
The Director raised an eyebrow, frowning. “I’m sorry Cerberus, but you are not allowed to steal food. You and Caboose know that.”  
West sighed, almost sullenly, next to Cerberus. She knew exactly why she was being dragged into this, and she was not happy. “Do I have to ride with Cerberus or do I get my own vehicle?”  
The man paused. Almost reluctantly, he made his decree: “You get your own vehicle. It’s a sand buggy known as a sand rail. Cerberus will ride his normal motorbike.”  
West perked up, smiling, while Cerberus just wallowed in his own self despair. “I’m going to die.”  
He almost groaned when he saw West trying to hide a smile. Not that he didn’t like the medic – she was one of his best friends on the ship, asides from maybe Maine or Wash – but her driving terrified him. He was sure he wouldn’t get out of it without some sort of serious injury.  
The Director nodded to himself, seemingly satisfied with himself. “Alright, Agents, you are dismissed. You may return when the food drop is completed. Understand?”  
The two agents nodded, beginning to make their way to the hangar.

At the moment, the Mother of Invention was in geostationary orbit around the desert planet, where one of their major freelancer bases was situated. Cerberus had been there before a number of times; it had to be kept secret, so they usually delivered supplies personally. It was hot, windy, and if the two agents didn’t have their armour, the sandy blond was sure they’d cook. The temperature could easily reach up to 40°C, which Cerberus thought was way too hot. West looked rather excited though. Apparently the planet reminded her of her home or something.  
The base was actually underground, with a number of steel plated doors the only indication of the hidden base below the sand. The pelican had landed in the underground hangar, where Cerberus and West had been directed towards their respective vehicles. The whole process would take nearly two hours.  
Cerberus sighed. Two hours of West probably trying to kill him. At the moment, she was sitting in the vehicle, her AI Zeta talking to her in a soft, calming voice. Probably explaining how to drive the sand rail, which was a sturdy, armoured buggy that was perfect for driving in the desert. Cerberus was sitting on his own special, modified motorbike, which allowed for his prosthetic legs.  
“West, are you okay? Do you even know how to drive that thing?”  
He saw her shake her head from the seat. “Not a goddamn clue! This should be fun!” She mashed a button on the keyboard, and suddenly, extremely loud rock music blasted from the speakers before the sand rail shot off towards the exit, West whooping at the top of her lungs.  
“Oh god. She’s going to kill me.” Cerberus muttered to himself before gunning his own engine, following the excited medic. She was fast, but easy to track, with the loud music indicating her location from a mile away. Cerberus clicked the radio on. “West, turn that music down!”  
“Zeta, no, I don’t know what I’m doing, calm down! It can’t be that hard to learn – WHOO!”  
Suddenly, Cerberus could just see a vehicle in the distance go flying through the air, flip once before landing almost perfectly. It then shot off again, West laughing and yelling at Zeta to calm down over the radio. Well, someone was having fun.  
Revving the motorbike, Cerberus followed the medic, again. “West, calm down! You’re going too fast!”  
As he watched, the sand rail flipped nearly three times, sideways, before smashing into the ground. It rolled, twice more, before it landed upright. Cerberus could hear West laugh over the radio. Oh my god. She was insane.  
“Cerberus, calm down. I did this all the time in Lancelin back home. Well, that was with a four-wheel drive, but it’s the same principle. Yes, it is the same principle. Stop trying to ruin my fun, Zeta! I never get to drive anymore!” She sighed, exasperated, over the radio. “Yes, I know I’m a horrible driver, yes, I know I’m being reckless. Now, can I get back to driving? Good, okay.”  
At least she was stationary at the moment. “West, can you please drive more slowly? And drive behind me, please!”  
Zeta appeared at the medic’s shoulder. “I agree with Cerberus. This is simply too risky; the way you are currently driving will most likely result in injury to either yourself or others.”  
The agent could almost see the medic pout. He did hear her sigh though. “You guys are no fun.”

Nearly an hour later, the two – three if you counted Zeta – had completed nearly three laps of the above ground base, and according to their people below ground, the job was almost done. They were just on their way back now. Cerberus was extremely thankful that West had stop driving so dangerously; when she followed orders, she was not actually that bad –  
Suddenly he was flying through the air, having being knocked flying by West’s sand rail. He could hear her yell of panic as he smacked into the ground, his motorbike landing on his prosthetic legs. It didn’t hurt, but he yelled in panic and slight pain as he felt the heavy bike crush his legs.  
Oh, shit. The sand rail pulled up right next to him, West leaping out of the vehicle in panic.  
“Oh, shit, Cerberus! I’m so sorry! That sinkhole came out nowhere, mate, I’m so sorry!”  
Zeta appeared at her shoulder, in response to his person’s panic. “Cerberus is fine, West. You’ve seen this in the war, have you not?”  
She nodded, once, before wedging her shoulder underneath the part of the bike crushing his legs. Cerberus could almost see her shift into what he liked to call her ‘medic mode,’ in which she almost focused entirely on her current job in helping whoever was injured. It was pretty impressive, and after getting Zeta, her medic mode only seemed to get more intense.  
With a small grunt, boots sliding in the soft sand, the medic hefted the bike off Cerberus long enough for him to pull his now immobile legs out from under the mangled bike. That was just great.  
“Oh, hell no!”  
West gave Cerberus a stern look as he started to scramble backwards, moving quite nimbly for someone whose legs had almost been flattened. She darted forwards, almost tackling him as she hefted over him over her shoulder before placing him gently in the second seat of her sand rail. He almost clawed at the door, but relented when the medic dragged his motorbike over to her vehicle. Thankfully, there was a section on the back of the buggy that would allow for a certain amount of cargo to be moved. With a fair amount of lifting, the medic managed to manoeuvre the cumbersome bike into the sand rail. Then, once she secured it, hopped into the driver’s side, where Cerberus was gripping onto the dashboard so hard his knuckles were going white.  
“Please drive carefully, West. Please – OH SHIT!”  
The sand rail zipped off, and Cerberus could almost see the determined look on the medic’s face. She took a sand dune straight on, and suddenly the two were flying through the air. They must’ve been nearly a kilometre from the base, so West was gunning it as fast as she could. It wasn’t really serious, asides from him not being able to walk, but to be honest, she felt pretty guilty about totalling his legs and his bike and wanted to get them fixed as soon as possible. She was probably being pretty risky, driving how she was, but she had a certain knack for landing upright.  
“Cerberus, it’ll be okay. I have faith – for some reason – in West’s ability to not injure you or us further.” Zeta popped up at West’s shoulder, his calming voice helping calm Cerberus’s nerves. Somewhat. West smiled, grunting slightly as she spoke to Zeta in her own mind. Private conversation. He did wonder what having an AI would be like. Cerberus would probably receive his own soon, according to the Director. But he’d think about that later.  
“Arcadia base, Arcadia base, this is Agent West Australia, acknowledge please, over.” There was a slight pause before the medic continued speaking: “Arcadia base, please notify Mother of Invention that we have had an accident and that Agent Cerberus cannot walk. His motorbike is also damaged, but we are both fine. We will be back in a few minutes. Please open the hangar doors, over.”  
Silence reigned for a moment before West nodded and turned her head slightly towards Cerberus. “Thank you, Arcadia base. Agent West Australia out.” Cerberus tilted his head slightly, wincing slightly as he felt the dead weight of his legs. “We’re all good. I can help you fix your legs once we get back to the Mother of Invention.”  
The man shook his head. “No, Maine can help me. It’s fine.”  
West frowned. “I want to at least look at your prosthetics once Maine’s done with them. No arguments.”  
Cerberus sighed. “Fine. Ugh, this is going to be fun trying to explain to the Director.”  
“Don’t remind me. You aren’t the one that crushed your legs and bike.”  
“Don’t worry about it, West. Sinkholes are common around here, I’m sure he’ll understand.”  
The medic laughed. “He’ll probably dock the repairs out of my pay, knowing that man.”  
Cerberus sighed. “Come on, West. Let’s go home. I’ve had enough driving for one day.”  
“No truer words were ever spoken, my friend. Let’s go home.”


	12. 11

She woke up in recovery. West woke suddenly, almost groaning as she felt a splitting headache rip through her temples, so she sunk down into the bed, lifting a hand to massage her temples.  
She wasn’t in any of the normal med bays, so she supposed this was the room where they dumped recovering freelancers after they received their AI’s. But, why had she woken up? She should’ve been conscious for the whole surgery-  
>>Hello.  
“Holy shit!” She couldn’t help it. Having a voice speak inside her head and seeing a figure flash before her eyes was just a bit too much. And it just made her headache worse, making her sink further into the bed with a groan.  
>>Please stay calm. Your blood pressure has risen to 134 systolic, 89 diastolic. You were placed under general anaesthesia as your body reacted adversely to the initial implantation. The surgeons believed it was a subconscious reaction that you had no control over. Do not worry.>>  
What was wrong with his voice? It sounded liked some sort of weird, old, pre-war meditation voice that seemed to be popular when the internet was first starting out.   
>>If it makes you more comfortable, I can change my vocal subroutines.>>  
Oh, that was defiantly strange. He could hear inside her own mind. How should she address him?  
“Umm… hello?”  
>>Hello.>>  
“You’re my new AI?”  
>>Yes, that is correct. My designation is Zeta. It is a pleasure to meet you.>  
West sunk further into her bed. This was so strange.  
>>I understand that it can be a bit hard at first, but we will work through it.>  
The medic laughed, abruptly. “We have no choice, mate.”  
>>Mate?>  
“Ah, sorry. It’s a common nickname from where I come from. Hey, do you mind if I call you Z?”  
>>If it makes it easier for you to adjust to my presence, you can call me what you wish.>  
As he spoke, West could see an outline of something flicker in and out of her vision. It looked mainly like a freelancer in red and black armour; similar to her own, but in reverse. It was… interesting.   
“How long have I been unconscious for?”  
>>Three hours, twenty-four minutes and six seconds. It is 11.26 pm.>  
West sighed. She was never going to get to sleep now, since her body clock had been thrown out of whack with the GA. Looking around Recovery, it seemed that the people manning the station had thought that West would sleep the whole night and wake up in the morning. The lights had been dimmed, and her armour had been piled in the corner. West grumbled.   
“Oh, bugger this. I’m going to my own med bay.”  
>>Is that a good idea? The Director would much rather have you remain here.>  
West rolled her eyes. “One thing you learn when running with me, Z, is that I don’t always follow orders. Just think of it as being given a tour. I’m just showing you our med bay, since we’ll be there a fair amount.” She walked over to her armour, beginning to pull it on. She would rather just leave it, but she supposed that she should take it with her.  
>>You are a soldier, aren’t you? Shouldn’t you follow orders?>  
The medic smiled as the opened the door. Her head was still throbbing dully, but once she got to her med bay she could drug herself up, which would helpfully make her fall asleep. “But I’m also a medic and doctor. Anything medical, I tend to have the final say. And I can’t be bother sleeping on one of those lumpy old beds. I need my cot.”  
>>And those two correlate?>  
“Yes. Don’t question it, Z.”  
>>Understood.>  
“My god, do you have any spine at all?”  
>>Any ‘spine’?>  
“Like, backbone. Attitude. Anything similar.” The medic paused for a second, collecting her bearings. She turned down a corridor, which she remembered as heading towards her med bay. “Aren’t most of the AI fragments supposed to represent a certain emotion or something?”  
>>Yes, that is correct. I represent Determination.>  
“Hm. Determination.” She turned another corridor. Wait, where was she now?  
>>Yes, that is correct. You… admire that?>  
West nodded, her lips twitching up into a smile. She knew where she was now, as the training hall was just off to her right. And, she could hear… music?  
Moving silently as she could over to the door, she opened it. A melody was playing softly in the training hall, and when she made her way over to the viewing window, she saw two figures in the centre of the floor, slowly dancing to the music. One was much taller than the other, but they both seemed to be swaying with each other, peacefully. It was rather dim in the room, but seeing the massive stature of one of the guys and the sandy blond hair of the other, West knew who was who.  
>>Should those two be in the training room this late at night?>  
West just smiled and backed out of the room. “Let’s just leave them be. We don’t need to bother them.”

It was nearly 15 minutes later when West managed to find her way to her own med bay. It was… different, with another person inside her own head. Disorientating. And, being so late at night, she supposed she was slightly sleep deprived as well. Great.   
>>Do you normally sleep well?>  
And it was strange, having a running commentary of her thoughts and actions. She shrugged. “Yeah, but it depends on the day. I usually sleep okay though.” She pressed the button on the med bay door, which slid the white door to the side. The medic wandered in, and once she reached her office, stripped down to her undersuit before falling backwards onto her cot. She grabbed a couple of paracetamol tablets, swigging them down with a mouthful of water.   
>>Shouldn’t you note that down?>  
West shrugged from her spot on the bed. “Nah, I’ll do it in the morning. I just want to try get some sleep now. Might as well try, even if I may not get any.”  
>>That would be a good idea. I will try keep my input to a minimum to allow you to sleep.>  
The medic chuckled, shifting onto her side before settling down into the cot. She touched her implant softly, at the base of her neck. “It’s fine, Z. We’ll take a while to settle down, anyway.”

West woke to the sounds of people calling her name. She blinked, confused for a second, before she realised that she was in her office. That was right. She had come here last night after waking up in recovery-   
>>How are you feeling?>  
Thankfully, the shock wasn’t as severe as the first time the AI had spoken inside her head, but it was still slightly unnerving. She sat up, rubbing her eyes sleepily. “I’m fine, Z. Thank you for asking.”  
>>I would assume that those people are looking for us.>  
The medic grumbled, standing up. The clock on the wall said that it was around 7.30am. Damn, she’d slept through the first breakfast bell. “That’s just bloody great.”  
With a sigh – she would’ve liked to get some more sleep – she walked into the med bay to see Wash, York and N turn to look at her, seemingly surprised.   
>>Who are these freelancers?>  
“This is Wash, York and N. They’re my friends.” West motioned to the three freelancers while they all looked at her strangely. West could feel something almost like a nod in her mind.   
“West? Who are you talking to?” Wash looked at the medic worriedly. The medic smiled.  
“My AI, Wash. His name is Zeta. Z, come say hello.”  
The small AI appeared from one of the holographic projectors in the wall to float next to West’s shoulder. York grinned, walking over to the tiny, red and black AI.   
“Hey, nice to meet you. My name’s York. You’re Zeta? I’ve got an AI of my own.” The scarred agent smiled and nodded at Zeta. Zeta nodded back in response.  
>>It is a pleasure to meet you. You three were looking for us?>  
The small AI turned to almost glare at his medic. She just smiled impishly at the AI, giving him a grin.  
>>I told you that we should’ve stayed in Recovery, West.>  
“Eh, no harm done. If the Director gets pissed, I’ll take the blame.”  
>>So kind of you.>  
“Actually, West, can you give me some first aid?” N came forwards, clutching a badly bleeding hand. The medic paused before giving an astonished look at the other agent. Wash and York also seemed surprised at how badly her hand was bleeding. Hadn’t they noticed? The brunette chuckled sheepishly. “I cut myself when I was cooking.”  
West sighed, shaking her head. “My god, how did you do that? Okay, give me a sec. At least it’ll give me a good look at how Z handles situations.” She motioned to one of the beds. “Sit over there.”  
Moving over to one of the cupboards, the medic pulled out a pair of rubber gloves before grabbing some saline, gauze and primapore adhesive dressings. Primapore was great, as it was waterproof and usually stuck really well. West sighed, seeing the blood all over the floor.   
“Agent West Australia! You were to remain in Recovery until this morning.” West almost groaned as the Director stalked in, the Councillor a step behind him. Holding a hand up, she, thankfully, made them both pause. The medic rolled her eyes, instead focusing on the glowing AI.  
“Z, can you walk me through this? I want to see how well you can deal with casualties. Is that okay, Nebraska?” The bleeding agent smiled and nodded her assent. Thank god she seemed like a very cheerful person.  
>>Of course, West. You need to clean the wound first, to remove any contaminants. Then, you can apply the gauze and primapore, and you can make Agent Nebraska apply pressure, which she is already doing.>  
As the AI was talking, West began to clean the wound. It had bled a fair amount, but it was fairly shallow, thankfully. It looked like she had sheared the skin off of the knuckle on her thumb, and was still bleeding, although it seemed to be slowing down. Sticking a small basin between her legs, West began to irrigate the wound. It seemed pretty clean already, which was good.  
“Okay, Z, what else do we need to do with casualties? You can look through my mind if you need help.”  
>>That will not be necessary, but thank you. Observations need to be taken, such as pulse, respiration rate and blood pressure, both systolic and diastolic.>  
“Good, that’s pretty much correct, but we don’t usually use diastolic blood pressure.”  
>>Oh? Why not?>  
The medic shrugged. “In an emergency, you might only be able to take systolic. It’s easier with our equipment to take both, but if you use a BP cuff, you can only really take systolic. But that’s usually in emergencies.”  
>>Oh, okay. I will remember that for next time.>  
“And what else do we need to do?”  
>>…rest and reassure the patient?>  
West chuckled. “Good!”   
>>How are you feeling, Agent Nebraska?>  
The purple and silver agent smiled at the tiny AI. “I’m fine, thank you.” The woman chuckled sheepishly, using her good hand to rub the back of her head. “This happens a lot, but I can usually deal with it myself. This is probably the worst injury I’ve given myself cooking.”  
>>No dizziness or nausea?>  
The brunette shook her head. “Nope! I feel fine, really.”  
West smoothed the primapore over the agent’s hand. It stuck well, thankfully, but she applied two dressings, just to be safe. “That should be that. Sorry about being a lab rat.”  
N laughed, standing up. “I’m sorry for getting blood on your nice clean floor!”  
The medic waved her hand. “It’s okay, I’ll clean it up later.” Repressing a sighed, she stood and turned to stare at the Director and Councillor, who had been watching silently. “I’m sorry, can I help you?”  
Probably not the right response as the Director glared at the medic and she could feel Z chastising her in her mind. Sorry Z, she thought. The taller man made his way forwards, avoiding the blood on the floor, to come stand less than a metre away from the redhead. “Agent West Australia, you have delayed my schedule and many of the agents’ schedules so they could come find you. You were to remain in Recovery until morning where you and Zeta would be assessed.”  
The medic shrugged. “I’m sorry, sir, but I woke up and decided that it would be easier for me to recover in my own med bay, since it’s more familiar. I also needed painkillers, which I wouldn’t have been able to get from Recovery. It was my idea, though, so don’t blame Zeta. He would’ve rather we stay in Recovery.” West placed her hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow. Was she pushing it? She probably was.  
The Director’s face morphed into a full-blown scowl. “Agent West Australia, since you have proven that you cannot follow orders, you will be confined to your med bay unless you are needed. You may still train with the other agents, but any other times, you will remain here. That will include meals as well. Is that understood?”  
Damn, she really had gone too far. She glanced off to the side, quickly, before returning her gaze to the Director. “Yes, that’s understood.” She probably deserved it, anyway. But hell if she would allow herself to feel guilty over it. She wouldn’t allow herself to.  
He drew himself up even straighter, nodding. “I will arrange a soldier to remain here, to make sure you will remain in the medical bay. They will also fetch your food. Agents,” He nodded to Wash, York and N, who had been standing there silently, “You may leave to go to training.” The group left silently, with Wash and N pausing to send her a sympathetic glance. It was okay. She didn’t mind.  
And that was that. No arguments.   
Without another word, the Director and Councillor stalked out. West allowed herself to exhale angrily, running her hand through her hair. She probably deserved it, but she was still angry at having being grounded like that. Then again, at least she wasn’t confined to her room. She liked her med bay. Wasn’t the worst place in the world to be confined to.  
>>You are a very interesting person, West.>  
The medic chuckled, walking over to the bin to throw out the rubbish. “What’s that supposed to mean, Z?”  
>>You have very good control over your emotions. And, even though you feel angry, you try to see the positive side of the situation. You are very determined.>  
That made her laugh. “I guess we’re a good match then, eh, Zeta?” She shook her head, still chuckling slightly as she grabbed a mop from the small storage room at the back of the med bay. Smiling, she began to clean the blood off the floor before dumping the dirty broom in the biohazard container near the entrance of the med bay. It didn’t take too long, and she was done about ten minutes later.  
Making her way over to her office, she flopped down onto her cot with a sigh. West couldn’t remember if she had any work, but if she was honest, she really couldn’t be stuffed.   
>>Is that really the best attitude to have?>  
The medic shrugged from her position on the cot. “Probably not, but I can’t be bothered. I’m tired and I’ve just been confined to my med bay. I can always do work later.”  
She could feel something like a shrug in her mind, and then a nod.   
>>This is true.>  
The woman sighed. This would be boring, she could tell.

West woke up a while later when the door of her office was slammed open and a body almost flopped down on her bed. The medic jerked awake, surprised and confused. She must’ve fallen asleep, as she had her arms tightly crossed over her chest with her chin tucked down.   
Well, Erith was sitting on her bed, a tray of food in her lap and her hands. She nodded to the medic –“What’s up?” - before she shoved the plate of food into her hands. “I wasn’t sure what you wanted, so I just grabbed a bit of everything.”  
West looked at the plate of food sceptically. “I can tell.” She replied dryly, noting how everything seemed to be piled on top of the plate. Erith laughed, cramming food into her mouth.  
“So, why’d the Director lock you up? You must’ve done something to piss him off.”  
The medic grumbled, but Zeta decided to appear and explain.  
>>West decided to return here after AI implantation, even though she had been expected to stay in Recovery.>  
“Holy shit!” Erith seemed surprised at the sudden appearance of the AI, and she threw a piece of food through the hologram. Zeta gave her what seemed to be an exasperated look.  
>>Please refrain from doing that as we will just have to clean it up later. You are Agent Erith, correct?>  
Erith blinked, still surprised. “Dude, what the hell is up with your voice?”   
West chuckled as Zeta sighed. “Don’t worry, Z. You haven’t met everyone yet.”  
>>I look forwards to it.>  
“So, why’d they send you to watch me?”  
Erith shrugged, picking at her food from her spot on the cot. “Dunno. I’m not usually needed, so I supposed the Director figured that I wouldn’t be missed. That’s cool though.” She grinned, wickedly, at the medic. “Means I get out of Carolina’s fucking training regime.”   
West laughed at that, picking at her own food. “Yeah, I’m not a fan.”  
“No shit! My god, it always kills me.” Erith groaned and shook her head. “How long are you supposed to stay here, anyway?”  
West shrugged. “I have no clue. The Director just told me that I would have to stay here. Didn’t tell me much else.”  
>>Maybe if you had remained in Recovery, this could have been avoided.>  
Erith poked her fork through the small AI. He flickered and glared at the agent, who smiled curiously. “He’s a bit of a nagger, isn’t he?”  
West smiled and rolled her eyes. “He’s fine, Erith. I’ve been acting a bit like an ass to the Director, so it was about time he got pissed with me.”  
“Oh, yeah! South told me about when you started arguing with him!” The agent laughed, shaking her head. “You’re nuts, West. I like that.”  
“Right, thanks.”   
The both of them paused for a bit, returning to their food.  
“So… what do you do for fun around here?”


	13. 12

“Really. You’re serious. This is all you do for fun around here?” Erith stared at West, who just shrugged.  
“Yep. I don’t have much fun stuff – well, fun for you. And I would prefer to not make a mess, since we’d just have to clean it up later.”  
The other agent flopped down on one of the med bay beds. “What’s your definition of ‘fun’ then?”  
West chuckled, sitting on the beg adjacent to Erith. The two had been in the med bay for nearly 4 hours now, and it was getting closer to dinner. It was safe to say, the two agents were definitely bored. Apparently, as well as being banned from leaving the med bay, there weren’t any ‘social visits’ allowed, which meant that West wasn’t allowed to see her friends outside of training or treating them.   
The medic sighed, trying to think of something the two of them could do, when there was a knock on the door. West sat up, yelling ‘come in!” to whoever was on the other side.  
When the door slid open, she got a bit of a surprise to see Cerberus, North, Wash, York, N and Donut on the other side of the door, with red pen drawn all over them. West raised an eyebrow as a couple of the agents grinned and shouldered their way inside. Z popped up, and West could feel his scepticism in the back of her mind, which she couldn’t help but chuckle at.  
>>Do you need any assistance?>  
Donut grinned. “Why yes, we do! We accidentally injured ourselves, and while I wouldn’t mind some strapping young man helping me, we figured that you’d help us out, West!”  
N rolled her eyes and smiled. “So, can you give us some first aid?”  
Zeta seemed confused at the fact that the freelancers and agents had drawn all over themselves in red pen to appear ‘injured.’  
>>But, you aren’t injured. This is confusing. Why would you say you were?>  
Erith came up next to West, slinging her arm around her taller friend, before she poked at the hologram. “They wanted to come visit, Zeta, and they wouldn’t be able to come unless they were injured. So, they ‘injured’ themselves.”  
The AI just shook his head before disappearing back inside West’s head.   
>>Human are very strange.>  
His medic chuckled, getting strange looks from everyone. “I know, Z, I know.” She raised her eyebrow at the agents in front of her. “I better bandage you guys up anyway, so it seems like you actually got injured. Come on, come sit down.”  
Cerberus grinned before he came to sit down on the bed. “We got such strange looks, so this better be worth it, West.” The sandy blond agent had drawn a number of lines on his face, probably to look like a graze, but it rather looked like a small kid had scribbled texta all over their faces and arms. West just shook her head and smiled, before she went over to the cupboard in order to grab some supplies. She grabbed a whole armful, before dumping them straight onto the bed.

Nearly an hour later, she had ‘patched’ everyone up, and the group was just sitting on the floor, laughing and talking. West had to admit, she was grateful towards her friends. They decided to do something rather silly in order to see her and keep her company. Not many people she had met would have done that for her. It was pretty entertaining though, to see Wash with a bandage wrapped around his head, with his bright blond hair sticking up around the white bandage. Cerberus was dressed up with a normal gauze patch over the ‘graze’ on his face, and he had his arm in a sling. N had her whole arm bandaged along with her leg, and she was laughing and calling herself a mummy. York had been given a couple of bandaids for his face and hands, while North had had his eye covered with a bandage similar to Wash’s. Donut had a massive broad bandage around his stomach and abdomen, and was trying to get everyone to get in a picture with him.  
It was silly, as the eight of them had spent nearly half an hour trying to come up with a scenario if anyone actually found them out. Donut had suggested a mud fight before he was cut off, N suggested a cooking accident and Cerberus had said something about getting stuck in the vents.  
West had laughed. “Guys, you can’t have all different scenarios. That would just seem like a really big coincidence.”  
Wash was looking thoughtful. “What if we had an accident in the training room? I don’t know, something with the locking paint, maybe?”  
North smiled, nodding. “What if a live grenade got mixed up in the training grenades?”  
Erith grinned. “It might make you sound like a real idiot though, North. Do you want to tell someone that you mixed up a training grenade and a live one?”  
The blond grumbled, before he shrugged. “Donut, you usually use grenades. Why don’t you say you mixed it up?”  
York laughed, “But North, that would make it even more unbelievable. Donut’s probably the best one with grenades, so he should’ve known the difference even more!”  
West just shook her head and laughed. “Hey, guys, are you going to wear that to dinner?”  
Most of them just shrugged. “We can always just put our armour on.” York grinned before jabbing his elbow at Wash. “Hey, Wash, you can show everyone how to eat with your armour on!”  
Wash just rolled his eyes, jabbing York back in the ribs. Everyone just laughed at the two interacting before the door slid open to reveal Doc carrying a number of data pads in his arms. West stood, welcoming the other medic. Simmons was a step behind him, data pads in his arms as well.   
“Doc, Simmons, what can I do for you?”  
Doc smiled, stiffly, before entering the med bay, Simmons on his heels. “West, can I speak to you in your office? I need you to look at something for me.”  
West raised an eyebrow but nodded. Something must’ve been wrong. “Yeah, sure. Come on.” She smiled at the freelancers on the ground. “We won’t be long.”  
Inside the small office, West turned to the other medic, who seemed to be deep in thought. Not that unusual for Doc or Simmons, but they both appeared to be frowning. Doc dumped his data pads on the desk while Simmons placed his on the cot. “West, can you look at this for me? Simmons and I were looking over the inventory for my med bay, and it seems that some items are… missing.”  
The redhead raised an eyebrow. “Missing. You’re sure?”  
The two men nodded. West frowned, picking up one of the data pads to have a look for herself. Supplies were indeed missing; drugs from the supply cabinet. Both med bays had a locked medicine cabinet that most of the medical staff had keys to. Whenever drugs – or any supplies for that matter – were used, it needed to be recorded so that they could be restocked or replaced. It was unusual though. Who would take drugs from the drug cabinet?  
“I was wondering if you knew anything about it? Simmons noticed it when we were doing our normal inventory, so they couldn’t have been taken that long ago.”  
West shook her head. “No, I haven’t heard anything about it. But, why would someone take…” the medic paused, thinking. Stalking over to her desk, she grabbed her keys before walking over to the drug cabinet in the main med bay, Doc and Simmons following behind. The moment she entered the white room, silence fell, but West didn’t really worry about that. Unlocking the grey, unlabelled cabinet, the medic began checking the drugs.   
“The opioids are missing, aren’t they?” Doc asked with a weary sigh. West knew how he felt. This wouldn’t be fun to deal with.  
West stood and relocked the cabinet. “Yes. And I am going to fucking kill whoever decided stealing from my med bay was a good idea.” She essentially growled the last statement. The freelancers on the ground looked at the infuriated medic curiously.   
“West, what happened?” Cerberus raised an eyebrow, tilting his head curiously. West exhaled angrily, running a hand through her hair.  
“What I tell you cannot leave this room, okay? It’s very important. Can you guys give me your word?” When all the freelancers nodded, as West knew they would, the medic sighed. “Someone’s stolen a number of drugs from my med bay and Doc’s med bay. Judging by what they took, they’re probably planning on using them recreationally.”  
There was silence for a few seconds before Wash spoke up, sounding confused. “But, what drugs did they take? And don’t you guys usually keep that stuff under lock and key?”  
Doc nodded. “We do. Only medical personnel have keys to the drug cabinets.”  
Erith raised an eyebrow. “So someone’s nicked your stuff, and they’re medical. Shouldn’t be too hard to track them down.”  
Zeta appeared from the wall, interjecting.   
>>That is correct, Erith, but we need to find the missing medication quickly. They may potentially cause more casualties, which would be problematic as we do not have the right equipment to deal with drug overdoses.>  
“Well, what did they take?” Donut frowned, pouting almost. He didn’t like it when Doc or his friends were unhappy, so he supposed he’d help them track the medication down.   
West sighed. “Oxycodone, ketamine and most of the morphine. So painkillers, mostly. If they accidently OD, it can get bad quite quickly. We don’t have any drugs that can be used to negate those specific drugs, so we need to find them quickly.”  
N jumped up, hair flying everywhere. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go find those drugs!”  
The redheaded medic smiled, motioning for her friend to calm down. “We need to do this quietly. I would prefer not to have the Director on my back because some asshole was stealing stuff from the med bays.”  
Most of the freelancers nodded, just as the dinner bell chimed off. Doc perked up, an idea coming to him. “We should go try find the drugs now, while everyone’s getting dinner. Simmons and I can go search the other med bay and if we need help, we’ll call.”  
“Doc, they wouldn’t have taken them to a public-ish place. We need to check rooms.” West raised an eyebrow at the purple medic as the other freelancers wandered out the door. The medic paused before frowning.  
“Oh, you’re right.”  
>>What about Agent Cerberus?>  
Zeta popped out of the wall, almost causing Doc to jump. “Excuse me?”  
West blinked before grinning, “No, he’s right! Air vents go everywhere in the ship, don’t they? Including personal rooms?”  
“Yes, I believe so, but… oh! I see what you mean!”  
The redhead pushed the other medic towards the door. “Go catch him and give him a list of the medical staff that have keys to our drug cabinets. He can get into their rooms to try find the missing drugs.”  
The purple medic disappeared out the door with a faint goodbye being yelled over his shoulder.   
“Good idea, Z.”


	14. 13

West paced, both nervous and angry. It had been nearly half an hour, and Doc had popped his head back in to tell her that Cerberus was now in the vents and was heading towards the medical personnel rooms. She was more angry than nervous, however, and if Cerberus found whoever took the medication, she was going to make their live absolute hell. The one thing she did not tolerate was stealing of medical supplies, a result of spending time in the war.  
If supplies were scarce enough as they were, and if some asshole decided to have a bit of fun, it meant that people could either suffer or die. That wasn’t exactly the case on the ship, but she would still not tolerate someone stealing potentially dangerous drugs from her med bay.   
She was alone in the med bay, as Erith had ventured out to go fetch dinner. West sighed angrily, still pacing. Why didn’t they have security cameras in the med bays? Oh, right. Patient confidentiality.   
The medic sighed. She needed to distract herself.   
>>West?>  
“Z? What’s wrong?”   
>>I was doing a survey of all our equipment in the room and I found a fault in the advanced healing unit. I believe that it will make the unit potentially dangerous to use.>  
The medic frowned. That wasn’t good. “What’s the fault, Z?” There was a moment of silence, and West could feel something similar to confusion flash through her AI. He wasn’t sure of something. “Zeta?”  
>>I believe that someone may have intentionally manipulated or altered the automatic generator of the healing unit. Potentially the person who stole the medication from both med bays.>  
Well, that wasn’t good. If someone was intentionally sabotaging her equipment… “Zeta, send a message to Doc. Tell him that someone may have messed with the automatic healing units, and to not use it until we have this mess figured out.”  
>>Understood.>  
West ran a hand through her hair. She understood the schematics of the healing unit, but if someone had tampered with it, she didn’t know what would happen if she tried fixing the fault. But, she needed to disable the power source. In the war, the models she had used had a nasty habit of blowing up. She had never seen it before, but she had dealt with the results of the accident.  
Well, she didn’t have to worry about that, as a rattling sound echoed from within the healing unit. 

Everything hurt.   
Well, no. Not everything hurt.  
Her face hurt. And so did her ears.  
Her ears were ringing. No, that wasn’t right either. Well, they were, but other than that, she couldn’t hear anything. The medic touched her right ear, wincing as she felt a wave of dizziness come over her. There was blood on her fingers. She’d probably ruptured an eardrum. Or both eardrums.  
She couldn’t see either. Or, at least, her left eye was swollen shut. Or it wasn’t. She wasn’t entirely sure. But it hurt. Actually, most of her face hurt.   
In the back of her mind, she compared it to a plasma burn. Felt similar.   
The medic winced. She really didn’t want to move, but something was wrong. Obviously something was wrong. She had a head injury. And something had blown up. She wasn’t really thinking straight.  
Vaguely, she registered a fairly intense heat coming from her right. She squinted, trying to open her eyes, but she only managed to open her right eye a fraction. Bright orange flames roared from the destroyed healing unit, engulfing a fair amount of her med bay. Or at least, they would. It looked pretty bad.  
She still couldn’t hear anything, but she felt herself being dragged backwards, urgently. The blast seemed to have taken out the sprinklers, so the fire was becoming uncontrolled.   
With a fair degree of urgency, she was rolled onto her back, and she felt Velcro straps being tightened across her torso, head and legs. So much for spinal precautions. She could see a faint smear of purple and a dark grey and yellow smudge, so she supposed Doc and Wash had heard the explosion.   
She forced herself to breathe as she felt her mind wandering. Still wasn’t thinking straight.  
Breathing hurt as well. She supposed that was from the smoke in the room. Or she’d somehow singed her trachea and mouth. Sure as hell felt like it.  
She felt herself being lifted into the air. As her head was strapped, she couldn’t move her head. She didn’t know who was carrying her, but she felt the cool air wash over her as they left the med bay. She still couldn’t hear anything, apart from a high pitched ringing. She hoped that the damage wasn’t permanent. She liked being able to hear.  
Where was Zeta? She couldn’t feel him. She was probably too disoriented to notice his presence.   
Sometime later, she felt herself being placed gently on the ground. She still couldn’t feel much. Well, her face still hurt, as well as her head. It made things a bit hard to focus on.   
She couldn’t hear anything, but words seemed to almost flow into her mind. Maybe Zeta was unconsciously letting her hear. Interesting.   
“Doc, we can’t use the healing units!”   
“Wash, I know. We can’t go into the med bays until we know the healing unit there is safe. I’m going to apply a temporary dressing on her face. Thank god she was wearing her armour. I don’t know what would’ve happened if she had been in her undersuit.”  
“Will she be okay?”  
“Her injuries aren’t serious, but we need to be careful. Any head injuries need to be treated with care. And her eardrums need to be repaired.”  
Something hard squeezed her shoulder. It was almost painful, so she groaned slightly, trying to move away. She wanted to swat the thing away, but the moment she shifted her arm, she felt dizzy.  
“Good, she’s responding to pain.”  
“That’s good?!”  
“It means that she’s responsive.”  
God, she wanted to sleep so badly. Taking another burning breath in, she coughed. It hurt. Time seemed to pass in a haze, so she barely registered something being placed over her face.   
“What can we do? We can’t leave her here. She needs proper care, Doc!”  
“I know, N! What if we took her to the AI recovery? They don’t have a healing unit, so it should be safe.”  
“The Director is not going to be pleased about this…”

When West woke up, she couldn’t see. Something was obscuring her vison, and for the first moment when she tried opening her eyes, it made her panic.  
She couldn’t see. Had something happened to her eyes? She remembered not being able to see much and… not much else, actually. Something had exploded and… how long had she been asleep?  
She was in a bed. She could feel that much. Her head was still throbbing dully, but she could feel a pinch as she tried moving her right arm. Ah, intravenous injections. They must’ve been keeping her under with pain killers. Or whatever they could use, since most of their pain killers had been stolen. Someone must’ve removed her armour to help her.  
Where was she? There were only two places she could be other than her own med bay…  
Shit. The medic groaned slightly as she began to remember what had happened.   
The advanced healing unit had blown up, injuring her. She had been rescued by… Doc? She remembered something purple. And her med bay had been set on fire.  
Oh, she was going to murder whoever sabotaged her med bay.   
The medic sighed and leant back against the back of the bed. It was disorienting, not being able to see or hear. That’s right. Her ear drums had ruptured. West lifted a hand slowly, beginning to feel at the bandages on her face. It wasn’t good. Both eyes had been bandaged, along with both ears, leaving her with only the bottom of her face exposed, except for a number of gauze pads on her neck. It made the medic uncomfortable, she had to say. She felt too vulnerable. Too blind.   
She still seemed to have some sort of sensory input, which was unusual. It must’ve been Zeta’s connection to the world, as he didn’t solely rely on West’s eyes and ears to see. He could easily use her armour’s camera to see and hear things. He wasn’t active though. Maybe he pulled himself to protect himself, but was maintaining some level of communication. That would explain how she was able to hear heavy footsteps walking towards her, along with some worried chatter that sounded slightly tinny and strained.   
West turned her head slightly towards the noise. She still felt extremely dizzy, but she wanted to remain composed. This would not get to her.  
“Agent West Australia? Can you hear me?” A man was speaking to her, but she couldn’t place the voice.  
“Director, her eardrums were ruptured. We only just repaired them. She won’t be able to hear for nearly a week until they fully heal.”  
West forced her swollen and sluggish tongue to move. Her lips felt very raw. She really must’ve burnt her throat in the explosion. “…Sir?”  
She barely managed a rasp, but it was enough to catch the Director’s attention. She could hear through Z’s latent connection; his footsteps turned back to her.   
“Agent West Australia, you were in an accident and have been asleep for nearly three days. From what Agent Dufrene has told me, someone had sabotaged your advanced healing unit, rigging it to explode. They also stole a number of important medications from your medical bay. Is this correct?”  
The medic nodded. Straight to business, that man. She’d try not speak, considering how much it hurt her throat. She heard the man sigh, before she heard him shift on his feet, turning to the person next to him.  
“Surgeon, when will she be able to communicate properly?”  
The other person paused, thinking. “It’s hard to tell. She burnt her throat quite badly, so I’m surprised she can even speak coherent words. She received second degree burns to the left side of her face, so we need to keep her eyes covered to prevent any potential injury. And, I don’t even know how she can hear you. It will most likely take a few weeks at least, a few months at most. It will depend on how well she heals and how soon it will take to get the healing units back in working order.”  
The Director sighed, again. “Inform me if there is any serious change. We will focus on finding the traitor,” he shifted, again, “And, Agent, you have some visitors. That will be all.”  
“Of course, Sir. I’ll let the other agents know that they can visit the agent.”  
A few minutes must’ve passed, as she could hear footsteps walk away from her bed before a low murmuring from another room. That’s right. There was an observing room that people could watch from. She supposed her friends were there, being spoken to by the surgeon.  
“West! Oh my god, are you alright?!” A woman’s voice became progressively louder as someone ran over to the bed. It was frustrating, as West still couldn’t place who the voices belonged to.   
“Agent Nebraska! What did I just tell you! Please remain quiet!” The surgeon snapped from the doorway, West thought, since she heard the closing of a door a moment later. She turned her head slightly towards where her friend was, trying to smile. Her face was very sore but she felt N grab her hand, squeezing it tightly.   
“I’m so glad you’re awake, West. Everyone’s been really worried about you.” West squeezed her friend’s hand, letting her know that she could hear. She motioned slowly to her throat, and thankfully, the purple and silver agent got the message. “We know you can’t speak, West. The surgeon told us that you burnt your throat and wouldn’t be able to speak for a while.”  
West squeezed her hand, glad that her friends understood her inability to communicate. She felt N pull her hand back before she patted the back of West’s hand reassuringly. “We’re taking turns, but we’ve got to keep our visits short to allow you to rest.” West could almost hear the smile in her voice. “There’s a lot of people that want to see you.”  
The medic almost laughed, but she stopped herself. She did allow herself to smile, as much as it pulled at her injuries, as she heard the door slid open again as Nebraska swapped with someone else.   
“West, how are you feeling?” She still couldn’t place who was speaking, so she tilted her head slightly to the side, hoping they would understand. It was a guy who was speaking, but that’s all she could tell. A hand patted the arm with the needle in it. “It’s me, Wash. You gave everyone a good scare, West.”  
The medic leant her head back against the wall that her bed was backed up against, sighing. Knowing her friends, they were probably sick with worry. She had pulled herself into a sitting position, somehow, but she felt for Wash’s hand. When she found it, she gave it a good squeeze, hoping that the other agent understood. She heard him chuckle, once. “It’s alright, West. We’re just glad you’re awake. You had surgery to repair your eardrums.” She squeezed his hand, nodding slightly. “How can you even hear, West?”  
She motioned slowly to the back of her neck where her AI chip was. Wash made a noise of understanding before she heard him stand, patting her hand similarly to how Nebraska had. “I hope you feel better soon, West. We’ll be back later.”  
The next set of footsteps sounded slightly odd when West compared them to Wash’s or N’s footsteps. As if their legs weren’t in the same position as everyone else’s, if that made any sense. The only person she knew with legs like that was… Cerberus! She was right on the mark as she heard him shift as he sat in the chair next to her bed.  
“How are you feeling, West? It’s me, Cerberus.”  
She had a feeling that she would be asked that question a lot. She tilted her head towards him as if she was giving him a ‘really?’ look, which caused the other agent to laugh. “Sorry, West. You’ve probably heard that a lot already. It’s good to see you awake.”  
West squeezed his hand, hard. What had happened to the missing drugs?  
“I looked through all the rooms of the personnel that Doc gave me, but I couldn’t find anything. But, now that this’s happened, the Director is searching the rooms of everyone on the ship to try find who took those drugs, since they probably sabotaged your healing unit. Doc’s healing unit blew up as well, so we put you in the Recovery room.”  
Well, shit. That wasn’t good. West squeezed his hand, again.   
“No, no-one else was injured, thankfully. We can’t use the med bays now, since they were mostly wrecked by the fires and explosions. I’m… really glad you’re alright, West. We were all really worried when Doc and Wash pulled you out of the fire.”  
West squeezed his hand, softly. She was alright and she would get better. Her friends would understand that, hopefully. She heard him chuckle before he stood, patting her hand. “We’ll be back.”  
Her next visitors came together, as West supposed the surgeon wanted to hurry the visits up. She was injured, after all, and needed to rest. But, by god, she wanted to reassure everyone that she was okay.  
“Hey, West. Good to see you conscious.” Something patted her hand.  
“Yeah, it’s good to see you awake. How are you feeling?”  
She really had to chuckle then, giving a short, barking laugh that absolutely killed her throat, making her whine slightly in response. She squeezed the hand of whoever was speaking to her, smiling slightly.  
“Sorry West, you’ve probably heard that a lot, haven’t you?”  
There was a slight chuckle. “It’s York and North, by the way. It’s good to see you up. Everyone’s been really gloomy, so it’ll be good to see everyone cheering up.”  
West smiled, squeezing the hand she was holding. She didn’t know if it was York or North who was holding her hand, but that didn’t really matter. She could hear someone shift on their feet slightly, next to her bed, before she heard someone sigh. “The surgeon wants us out. We’ll come visit later, okay, West?”  
She nodded slightly as the two men left. The next set of footsteps were very upbeat, with another person walking more slowly across the room. West felt someone grab her hand, squeezing gently.  
“Oh, I’m so glad you’re awake, West! Everyone’s been so depressed with you being unconscious.”  
“Donut, maybe you should give West a bit of space. She’s still injured.”  
“Oh, of course. Ooh, I should make a cake to celebrate! N can help!”  
Doc chuckled as Donut began to think about possible cake recipes. West patted both of their hands, thankful. Breathing in, she forced her throat to work. Doc had probably saved her live.  
“Thank…s…” The word got stuck in her throat, hissing on the last ‘s.’  
“Hey, don’t try to speak, West! You’re still injured.” She supposed that was Donut, judging by the tone. West was tempted to roll her eyes, but they were bandaged. Inhaling again, she tried to speak, again.  
“…Doc…”   
Someone patted her hand. “It’s okay, West. I know what you’re trying to say. You’re welcome.”  
The medic smiled, squeezing the other medic’s hand. He understood at least. She felt a more eager patting of her hand, and assumed that was Donut saying goodbye.


	15. 14

Recovering was hard. And slow.   
It had been nearly a week since West had woken up, and to be honest, it was driving her nuts! She was confined to her bed, and had been forbidden from leaving Recovery. The surgeon had even threatened to tie her to the bed if she tried to leave! How insulting! But she had been kept plenty of company, thanks to her friends.   
She still wasn’t allowed to see – the surgeons were worried about damage to her eyes and wanted her to rest them for as long as possible- but they had taken away the bandages from her ears, so she could hear by herself again. Zeta was still in shutdown, as instructed by the Director. West was a bit miffed at having to keep her friend shut down for so long, but it was for the best of both of them. They weren’t sure what a head injury would do to the interactions between an AI and their operator. She was able to move around Recovery though, which West was grateful for. She couldn’t see a damned thing, resulting in a lot of crashes into furniture and teasing from Erith and the others, but at least she was allowed to actually move. Sitting in the bed all day would just send her nuts.   
They still hadn’t found the culprit. As far as West knew, they only thing they had going for them was that they had a key to the medical bays and that they may or may not have been in the possession of the stolen drugs. West wasn’t hoping for much. They’d probably already disappeared or been sold, since all three of the painkillers could be used recreationally. They could all potentially cause overdoses, but West could remember when Oxycodone caused a bit of a scare in her home city of Perth, where the use of the painkiller had skyrocketed. Now they were worried about ice, but that had been going on for a while, anyway.   
The door of Recovery slid open, making West look up, even though she couldn’t see anything. 

“Who is it?” She could place voices now, thankfully, as she didn’t have to rely on Zeta to hear. But she hadn’t been told of anyone visiting, so who was here? 

“Just maintenance, ma’am. Just restocking the first aid supplies and medication. Don’t mind me.” The man had a deep, gruff voice, but didn’t sound familiar. West followed his footsteps with her head, frowning slightly. 

“And you have a key to the medications?” There was a slight pause. 

“Yes ma’am, that’s correct. May I help you with anything?” 

“Who else in maintenance has a key to the medical cabinets?” There was a slight shifting, and West stood up. Something wasn’t right here. 

“I’m sorry ma’am, but I don’t feel like I have the right to answer that question. If you’ll excuse me, I need to go pick up some more supplies from the cargo bay.” His footsteps walked away from her, hurried. The medic heard the door open before she started to follow the noise. Slamming her fist into the key pad, the door opened to the hurried running of the maintenance guy. Fucking really?! How stupid was this guy?   
West broke into a run, turning to the right, trying to sprint as quietly as possible so she could still track the man. He was loud enough anyway, and West just hoped that whoever was in the hallway was smart enough to stay out of the way. Did he steal the drugs? If he did, why the hell was he returning just over a week later? He was either really stupid or something wasn’t right.   
“HEY!” West yelled as loudly as she could, before breaking off in a cough mid sprint. Her throat was still sore, even though it was healing well. She really shouldn’t have been doing this! Oh, the surgeon was going to kill her… 

The man mustn’t’ve been too far ahead of her, as she heard him swear loudly before his footsteps changed direction, running down another corridor. Goddamn it! West took the corner sharply, accidently clipping her shoulder on the wall, due to her physical awareness having gone out the window. She stumbled slightly, growling in pain before she took of sprinting again. Even injured and blind, the man was unprepared for how tenacious the medic was-   
She tackled him blindly, crashing into him from behind. She tackled him too far to the left, however, just managing to hook her right arm around his waist. She was rather strong however, and was throwing her whole body into the tackle, so it was enough to stagger the man, nearly knocking him over.   
West scrambled to her feet, just as she felt a leg kick her in the side. She rolled with the impact, coming up on her hands and feet. Fuck! Why was she doing this?! She couldn’t see the man, so when he tried to punch her, he clipped her on the head, making her stagger. He was breathing extremely heavily, so at least she could kinda place where he was. Didn’t do much for trying to defend herself, but at least she was seemingly faster than the man. If she could restrain him…   
When the next punch caught her on her left cheek, she felt pain tear through her face. Yeah, no, the surgeon was going to murder her for this. But it gave her a chance to latch onto his arm, and when he tried to rip his arm from her grasp, she yanked him towards her. It caught him off guard, so when he stumbled, she forced him to the ground, where she quickly jabbed him in the eyes and throat, hard. She didn’t need her eyes to incapacitate a man.   
She felt his hands go to his throat, quickly, as the man began to make choking sounds, too occupied with his throat and face to bother fighting West. 

“West! What the hell…?” Wash’s surprised voice echoed from down one end of the corridor, steadily becoming louder as he and another person ran towards then. West stood, holding her arms out in front of her, trying to steady herself. She felt herself swaying very badly when she felt someone catch her arms and shoulders, steading her. Must’ve been Wash. 

“What happened here?” The commanding, female voice could only belong to Carolina. She sounded mostly confused, but with an underlying tone of anger. West put a hand to her head with a slight grunt, trying to compose herself. Focus, West! It felt like she had reopened the burns on her face, by the way the injury was throbbing and stinging painfully. 

“Uh... this man, he ran after I started questioning him on whether he had access to the medication in the med bays. He ran, I chased and… well, yeah.” The medic smiled slightly, motioning to the groaning man on the ground. Carolina sighed. 

“Wash, can you take West back to Recovery? I’ll take this man to the cells. The Director can question him later.” West felt her friend’s hands move to pull her arm over his shoulder as they began to walk back towards Recovery, Wash leading the way.

“That was pretty silly, West. You’re still injured.” The medic sighed, wanting to roll her eyes. 

“I know, Wash, but there was no one else in Recovery at the time and that man seemed shifty as hell.” 

The grey and yellow agent chuckled. “The surgeon isn’t going to be happy, you know.” West groaned, touching her bandaged face with her free hand. 

“Don’t remind me Wash! He’ll probably try tie me to the bed, like he threatened earlier. I’m doomed.” 

Thankfully, they didn’t have to walk too far. There was a slight chatter of voices from within the recovery bay, so when Wash opened the door, the two were almost assaulted with questions and noise. 

“Agent West Australia! I gave you specific instructions to remain within this Recovery bay!” West could hear the enraged shriek of the surgeon as she felt hands pulling at her roughly. They retreated, however, when someone shooed the hands away. Wash then lead the medic to her bed, where she sat down with a sigh of relief. 

“Wash, can you explain?” West winced as she began to gently probe her face, trying to feel the extent of her re-injury. She felt a pat on her hand and the grey and yellow agent began to explain what had happened. 

“West, may I look at your bandages?” West jerked her head up, as Doc patted her hand softly. “We have to change them anyway, and I think the surgeon may be a bit too rough.” 

The medic nodded. “Sure Doc, go ahead. I think I might’ve reopened my burns. Got into a bit of a fistfight with our visitor.” She heard the purple medic chuckle before she felt the outside bandages being unwound from her face. She needed to have her bandaged changed, anyway, to prevent the infection of her wounds. Burns were notorious for getting infected. The medic winced slightly as she felt the second layer of her bandages being pulled off, revealing the non-adhesive gauze that was protecting her burns. They were still tender and had begun weeping, so Doc was taking very special care when he removed the gauze. She heard him sigh, softly. 

“West, you’ve reopened part of your burn. Part of the skin has torn. I’m going to have to re-bandage your wound. That’s okay?” West nodded. “Yeah, that’s alright Doc.” She heard his footsteps wander over to one of the cupboards to grab some gear. More footsteps wandered over to the bed, so West tried opening her right eye, since it wasn’t covered in burns. She winced, since the LED lights of the Recovery bay were exceedingly bright. She could barely see anything, as everything was extremely blurry. She could see a vague face sitting in front of her, and judging from the atrocious colours of her armour, it was Erith. The brunette agent had been keeping West a fair amount of company since the accident, and had repeatedly apologised for leaving the medic alone in the med bay when it had been attacked. The medic had reassured her friend that it wasn’t her fault and that she was glad Erith hadn’t been there, since otherwise she would have been injured too. 

“Long time no see! How’s your vision, West?” 

The medic snorted and gave a lopsided grin to avoid moving the left side of her face. “Thank god most of my vision is blurry. At least I don’t get to see your ugly mug for a while yet.” 

The other agent laughed, standing up to allow Doc to sit back in the chair. “It’s good that you’re feeling better. You’d be just the person to chase someone down while blind.” 

“Such flattery, Erith! How’s training going, by the way?” The medic smiled slyly, knowing how much the other agent hated Carolina’s training regime. By the groan that came from Erith, West knew that Carolina had been putting the other freelancers through their paces. West wouldn’t expect any different, to be honest. “Hey, who’s here, anyway?” 

Doc began to smooth the non-adhesive dressing over West’s wounds, chuckling slightly. There was a slight whoosh sound as Erith flopped down on the opposite bed. “Well, there’s me, Doc, N and Wash… oh, hey Carolina. What’s up?” 

Urgent, no-nonsense footsteps came tramping down the Recovery bay. It was strange, how people’s footsteps seemed to match their personalities. While West wanted to look at the other redhead, she was forced to keep her head still while Doc bandaged her face. “West, the man you incapacitated is now secured in the brig. He’s not saying much, other than he was set up.” West heard the cyan agent sigh, seemingly annoyed. “The Councillor is speaking to him now.”

“And what if he doesn’t tell us anything?” Wash’s voice came from somewhere off to West’s left. 

“Then I’ll have a little chat with him.” 

Erith snorted while N chuckled. “Sucks to be him.” 

“What if he didn’t actually steal the drugs and was actually set up?” West wanted to look at Carolina, to see her reaction, but that wouldn’t do much good. “What will you do?”

“It depends. Well, we’ll find out soon, once we’re done with him.” The agent paused, thinking. “How are you feeling? Did he injure you?” The medic smiled. 

“He reopened part of my burns, but otherwise I’m fine. Just feel a bit dizzy from all the running, but that’s normal, I believe. I think the surgeon’s in a worse state than I am. Wouldn’t be surprised if he popped a coronary from the stress.” Doc chuckled, but West could almost feel the tangible confusion coming from the other agents. She sighed before chuckling. “It’s a blood vessel, guys. Like an artery?” 

“We don’t always understand your medical jargon, West. Speak English next time, for Christ’s sake.” West could almost see Erith rolling her eyes, and the medic chuckled in response. 

“I’ll keep that in mind, Erith.”


	16. 15

“If you feel any pain, tell me immediately, okay? We still don’t know how head injuries may affect your interaction or neural interface with your AI. Okay… just a little pinch…”  
West winced as she felt a slight pinch at the back of her neck. She was finally having Zeta reactivated! To be honest, she had been missing the red and black AI. After a few days with him in her head, it felt a bit empty.  
It had been a few days since that idiot had tried to ‘restock’ the Recovery bay. He’d told the Councillor nothing, so now Carolina was going to have her way with him. The only thing that he’d said that was he’d been given instructions from an outside source and that he wasn’t expecting any hostile reactions. So basically, he’d been set up. He also had no copy of his instructions, so it was going to be hard to trace whoever had given him the info. But, apparently, someone else had sabotaged the advanced healing units, which were still offline.   
The surgeon had been unbelievably mad about West chasing after the man, so Doc had taken over her care while the surgeon took a few days off from dealing with West. She didn’t mind. She still had her eyes damaged, but maybe once Z was reactivated, she could use him to see.  
It took a few seconds, but West could almost feel like something was refilling her mind, or as if something was waking up. She supposed that was kind of what it was like, as an AI. She could also feel Zeta’s confusion filling her as he tried to process where he was.  
>>West? Where are we? What happened?>>  
The medic smiled. “Zeta, it’s good to have you awake.”  
The little AI grumbled and suddenly appeared from a projector in the wall. West couldn’t see him, but she could almost sense where he was. She felt him looking through her mind in an effort to process what had happened, before realisation set in.  
>>Oh, that is correct. I pulled myself after the advanced healing unit exploded.>>  
West nodded. “How are you feeling, Z?”  
>>Strange, as if I have just woken up from a deep sleep. But, that is not possible.>>  
“I wouldn’t worry about it, Z. I had a concussion, so the surgeons thought that our connection might have been affected. It might take a day or so to get back to normal.”  
She could feel something like exhaustion in her mind, and she sighed in response.  
>>I am sorry, West. I’m not use to pulling myself or remaining offline for so long. It’s a bit exhausting. How are you? You were injured in the blast?>>  
The medic smiled, motioning to her bandages. “Yeah, I received some burns to my face. They’re taking a while to heal. They reopened when I got into a fight a few days ago.”  
Zeta actually chuckled at that, and she felt him shake his head.  
>>Of course you did.>>  
She smiled in response. “Hey, Zeta, would it be possible for me to see through your eyes?”  
>>My… eyes?>>  
The medic nodded. “Yeah, like the cameras you see through, or whatever. It might make this situation a bit better.”  
>>Well, I can try. Give me a moment, and I will try redirect your optical senses through our neural interface.>>  
Quite suddenly, colour invaded her head, and she put her hand up to her face reflectively. It took a moment, but the image focused to show an image of the Recovery med bay, with the nurse looking at her, eyebrow raised. Holy shit. That actually worked!   
West laughed, standing up. The image was a bit low, as she was looking through the camera on her shoulder, but she could actually see! She could feel Zeta’s amusement through their connection, so she spun in a circle to get the full image of the Recovery bay. After a week of darkness, this was extremely invigorating. West turned to the nurse.  
“May I go walk around a bit?” West could see the nurse frown, slightly. She wasn’t sure about letting West go out on her own, but she relented with a smile when West made a plea motion with her hands. “Please? I haven’t been able to see for a week. I won’t be long.”   
The nurse shook her head and smiled. “Just be back soon. We need to change your bandages.”  
The medic grinned, standing up to walk towards the door. She had been allowed to wear her armour since it would help reduce the strain of hosting Zeta for the first time after the explosion. It was a bit disorienting, since she was looking through a camera that was set about a head shorter than her normal height, but she’d get used to it. The medic was just grinning excitedly at the fact that she could see and could move around without crashing into anything.  
>>We probably shouldn’t go far, West. You’re still recovering and I’ve just woken up.>>  
She snorted but smiled. “Z, we’ll be fine. I just want to go surprise everyone. They should be in the training room…”

It took them a few minutes, but the pair eventually made it to the training room with no incident. West could hear a training match going on, but when the door slid open, the room was empty. Looking through the observation window revealed one of Carolina’s training sessions going on below.   
West shrugged. She’d just head down to the floor to say hello. Wandering over to the lift, she punched in the button to the ground floor, waiting patiently as the lift dropped.   
The moment the door opened, she felt something yell in her mind as she barely registered something hurtling towards the open lift. The medic reacted instinctively, throwing herself forwards. She rolled once before she hurled herself to the side, just as the massive dumbbells punctured the metal doors of the lift. She came up on her hands and feet, panting at having to react that quickly.  
Turning her body towards the lift, she saw that the massive metal weights had crashed through both doors and would have impaled her, had she been standing still.  
“What the fuck?!”   
“West, shit!”  
“Goddamn it, Maine!”  
“West, are you okay?”  
The medic stood, feeling her hands shake, slightly. That had been close.   
>>West! Are you okay? I’m so sorry for yelling like that…>>  
The tiny red and black AI appeared at West’s shoulder, flickering, before he moved in front of her. He’d been scared. Scared that West would’ve been injured again.   
The medic dropped to her knees, giving a relieved sigh, touching her bandages gently. Nothing was injured, thankfully. She still felt shaky. She had not been expecting that to happen. “Zeta, thank you. You probably just saved my life.”  
The other freelancers sprinted over to the medic, with Wash and N reaching her first. N almost slid across the ground, kneeling next to her friend before placing a hand on her shoulder. Wash mirrored her, placing a hand on the medic’s shoulder.   
“West, are you okay? What are you doing here?!” Wash looked both frustrated and concerned, while N mainly just looked concerned. Over by the rest of the weights, Cerberus was seemingly consoling Maine, who was touching his head softly, growling.   
West shook her head, standing up while waving her friends off. “I’m fine, guys. I wanted to come say hello, since Zeta was reactivated.” She sighed, trying to calm her nerves. “I’m fine.”  
N frowned, while Erith crossed her arms, scowling. “Are you stupid, West? You’re blind! Why the hell would you just walk into a training match? You could’ve been injured!”  
West turned her body to face them, as it was the only way she could actually see her friends. “I’m not blind, Erith, that’s why I’m here. I’m seeing through Zeta’s eyes, like how I could hear when my eardrums were damaged.”   
The other agent huffed angrily, turning away from the medic. “You could’ve been seriously injured, West! You were already injured! Why would you endanger yourself like that?!”  
West scowled at her friend. She was probably just worried, which was manifesting as anger. N placed a hand on West’s shoulder, giving her a stern look. The medic sighed. Getting into a fight with a worried friend was probably not the best idea. “I’m sorry Erith. I didn’t know that would happen.” She shook her head, turning towards the other exit in the training hall. “I should probably head back to the med bay then.”  
Wash nodded, giving a short smile at his friend. N just nodded, smiling briefly as well, before they both turned back to Maine, who was still growling at Cerberus about his head. Was he okay?


	17. 16

“West! Are you alright?” Doc came sprinting up to the training room, just as West was leaving the room. He must’ve heard the massive crash when Maine threw the dumbbells through the walls of the lift, and was accompanied by a number of other soldiers.  
“I’m fine, Doc. Maine threw some weights through the side of the lift. I was just heading back to Recovery.”   
The other medic stared at West. “Why did the nurse let you leave? Did you reactivate Zeta? Is anyone injured?”  
West shook her head. “It’s hard to explain, but I can see through Zeta. I don’t think anyone’s injured, but you’ll have to check. I don’t think I’m in a state to help anyone.”  
Doc gave her a frustrated look, before he nodded and ran with the soldiers into the training hall. West sighed, running a hand through her hair before she began to walk back to the Recovery.  
>>West, are you okay?>>  
Zeta was speaking to her in her mind. The medic sighed, deciding to speak out loud to respond. “I’m fine, Zeta. I just wasn’t expecting that to happen. I’ll be alright. Just need to wait for the adrenaline to go down.” The medic paused, thinking, while she continued walking. “I hope Maine’s okay.”  
>>He may require a psychiatric assessment, judging by what we saw.>>  
“You might be right, Z.”

The two of them managed to make to the Recovery bay with no problems. It looked like this day was going to be a strange one. The nurse began to fuss over West as Doc had apparently radioed in that something had happened down at the training hall. According to Doc, also, he and some of the other soldiers were bringing Maine to the Recovery. West wasn’t so sure about that. Maine had thrown heavy metal weights through the side of a lift. The medic wasn’t sure if he would still react aggressively or not, or what had actually happened.   
About ten minutes later, the agents showed up, with Cerberus guiding Maine over to one of the Recovery beds, where the larger, bald agent sat down. Due to Cerberus’s tail whipping around agitatedly, West would assume that he seemed very, very mad. Not towards Maine but…   
“Sigma! Why would you goad Maine into attacking Wash like that?!” The other agent was extremely enraged, baring his slightly pointed canines at the tiny AI, which appeared at Maine’s shoulder. The AI didn’t appear to visibly react, even when Cerberus motioned to West. “And you almost resulted in West being injured! What’s wrong with you?!”  
The tiny red AI flared slightly, and seemed to narrow his eyes at the other agent. “I do not have to explain my actions to you, Agent Cerberus. Agent Maine and I were operating within acceptable guidelines, and while it resulted in property damage, no personnel were injured. Therefore, I believe that there is no reason for either Agent Maine or I to be here.”  
Maine growled slightly and Cerberus’s gaze softened. West felt like that would be a time for her to raise her eyebrow, but she stepped forwards to address the AI. “Sigma, as a medic, I believe that if you are influencing Maine to attack his own teammates when in a non-hostile training match, then you are a liability and that you are not acting within ‘acceptable’ guidelines. Your actions could have possibly resulted in the injuries of your teammates, and you almost seriously injured me.”  
Zeta appeared at her shoulder, and she felt him crossing his arms. He wasn’t pleased about this, and West could feel his slight anger and resentment towards the other AI, even though he saw Sigma as his brother.   
>>Sigma, I agree with West. It is not correct to act in this way, if one of the possible outcomes is the injury of a teammate. I am requesting you pull yourself while a psychiatric assessment is done on Maine.>>  
West could feel the glare of Sigma, but against the weight of so many agents, he nodded and relented.   
“My apologies. I did not mean to cause this much distress. But if you wish me to pull myself from Agent Maine, I must request that you give me confirmation from the Director himself. Otherwise, I will do no such thing.”  
The medic could feel Zeta’s anger in the back of her mind, but she refused to allow it to influence her own actions. She did frown, however, before she turned to Doc. The purple medic nodded.  
“I’ll radio the Councillor. He can get confirmation, Sigma, and then he can conduct the test.”  
West frowned, but nodded. She didn’t trust the Councillor, but she wasn’t trained for dealing with the mental health of her patients. That’s what the Councillor was for.   
She turned to Cerberus, who nodded stiffly before offering her a small smile. 

It had been a few hours since Maine and Sigma had been brought in, and they had received no response from the Director. West found this extremely infuriating, but there was nothing she could do. Doc had hung around to observe Maine’s behaviour while the nurse replaced West’s bandages. Thankfully, with Cerberus there, Maine had calmed down a fair amount.  
West was lying on one of the Recovery beds, absolutely bored out of her mind. Cerberus and Maine had been growling to each other softly for most of the time, which West supposed was their own private language. Cerberus still seemed very stiff and disconnected, which was unusual for him. She hadn’t seen him smile once since arriving, asides from when she basically told off Sigma. Maybe he was worried about Maine, but this felt different.  
The door across the room slid open, and the Director stalked in, Nebraska in tow. Doc scrambled up, and one of the AI surgeons appeared from the office at the end of the room.   
“We’re all ready, sir.” She nodded to N, who glanced over to West, giving her a nervous, excited smile. Wait. She was receiving her AI! “If you’ll come with me, Agent Nebraska.”  
N gave her a smile before obediently following the surgeon. Why hadn’t West heard about N’s implantation? But, then again, she wasn’t told much.   
As the doors to the waiting room before the operating theatre slid closed, the Director turned to Cerberus and Maine, who were watching him warily.   
“Agent Maine, due to your conduct today and after a request from both Agent Dufrene and Agent West Australia, I am giving the Councillor permission to run a psychiatric assessment on the wellbeing of you and your AI. Sigma, the Councillor will explain what you are required to do.” He fixed his stern gaze on Maine and Sigma before turning slightly to Cerberus. From West’s position, she saw his gaze soften a fraction when looking at the agent. “Agent Cerberus, is Guardian settling in well?”  
Cerberus gave a tight, thin smile. “I’ll get used to him, sir.” And that was that. The Director pulled himself up slightly, nodded once before he stalked out of the room. West shared a confused glance with Doc. What was that about?  
“Hey, Cerberus, what was that about?” West swung her legs over the side of the bed she was lying on, sitting up to look at her friend. He shook his head.   
“I received my AI. I’m fine, West, don’t worry.”   
The medic frowned. His clipped tone indicated that he wanted her to drop the subject. She wasn’t used to seeing him so… unhappy? She wasn’t sure how to describe it.   
West sighed, but nodded once. “Okay.”  
A few minutes later, the Councillor appeared at the door. Maine and Cerberus stood and without a word, began to follow the Councillor out of the room. West sighed from her position on the bed. She hoped the two of them would be alright. The Councillor freaked her out a bit.  
With Maine no longer in the room, Doc headed off to his unit as he was supposed to give the Reds and Blues their normal check up, much to the embarrassment of his crew. It was something West was glad she didn’t have to do, as the Freelancers were such a highly trained group. They didn’t need to be checked up on as regularly. The other nurse was in the office, doing paperwork of some sort.   
West sighed, yawning slightly. Well, maybe she’d have a quick nap…

The medic woke to the sounds of someone arguing. Grumbling, she felt Zeta seem to wake up at the same time. Maybe it was some sort of hibernation?   
“No, you can’t call me Lam! My name is Lambda! Call me that!”   
The medic rubbed her eyes, sitting up from her bed. “N? You okay?”  
The other agent was sitting, arms crossed, while staring at a tiny, cotton candy pink hologram. She scowled at the AI while it crossed its arms, mirroring its agent. West stood, wandering over to the pair. What time was it?  
>>It is currently 9.51pm.>>  
“Thanks Z.”  
N motioned to West and Z’s hologram, giving a sigh of exasperation. “See, Lam? Be more like Zeta. Zeta’s a good AI.”  
The tiny, pink AI scowled, glaring at her person. “Are you serious?!”  
West sighed, smiled, before she laughed. “Can’t you guys get along? When did you wake up, anyway, N?”  
The purple and silver agent snorted. “Just a few minutes ago. They knocked me out since Lam was being a bit… stubborn.”  
The pink AI grumbled while N swatted at the hologram. Her hand passed straight through, and Lam made a raspberry sound at the agent. West could feel Zeta’s slight exasperation and mild amusement, and she chuckled in response.   
“Well, I’ll let you two… bond. Have fun!”  
N laughed while Lambda remained stubbornly quiet as West wandered back to her bed.   
Lambda would defiantly be an interesting addition to the team.


	18. Child's Play - Bonus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Child's play
> 
> or, alternatively, the one where Lambda (nearly) get's placed in Time Out
> 
> (N just so happens to be my OC, and when Lambda was added to the story weeeeelllll I just couldn't help myself. enjoy. 
> 
> \- Blackitty09)

_~You know what’s reeeeeeaaaaalllyyyy annoying?~_  
“What, Lam?”  
_~Pink.~_  
“And why’s that?”  
_~Because it’s the colour of idiots. And I’m pink!~_  
N ran a hand through her hair and pressed a button on the tape recorder in her left hand. “Day 2 of implantation. Lam is still extremely annoying. And-“  
_~Ooooh, will my voice transmit through this piece of earth shit too?~_ Lambda, N’s AI, asked in mock excitement.  
“-And Lam is interrupting my journal. Again.” Her voice was full of soft-spoken anger as she turned off the device and chucked it back onto her bunk.  
_~I don’t understand why you use that earth tech. There’s no point to it.~_  
“It was suggested that I record the first few days of being with you, Lam, after the…. incident.”  
The incident in question was actually three incidents which had landed N and Lam in a private “AI bonding session” with the Counsellor.  
The first had happened during the first day, when Nebraska had been talking - correction, arguing with Lambda.

“Okay….so…you’re my AI, huh?”  
_~…Yeah. Apparently.~_  
“Well…what’s your name?”  
_~Ughhhh…do I really have to go through with this? Fiiiiiine.~_ The AI put on a faked chipper voice, obviously sarcastic.  
_~Hi! I’m your AI Unit Lambda, I’ve been assigned to you by the Director and I hope to help you with your technology access!~_ She paused. _~Was that better?~_  
“Uh... I think so?”  
 _~Ugh. This is boring.~_  
“It’s….9…something…. Oh! I know, I’ll call you Lam for short!”  
_~LAM?!~_  
“Yes, Lam.”  
_~No, you can’t call me Lam! My name is Lambda! Call me that!~_  
From the bed beside N, West stirred and woke up. “N? You okay?”  
N sighed, folding her arms, fixing her gaze on the tiny, cotton-candy pink figure in front of her. Just across the room, she could hear West’s AI tell her the time.  
“See, Lam? Be more like Zeta. Zeta’s a good AI.”  
_~Are you serious?!~_  
“Can’t you guys get along? When did you wake up, anyway, N?” West asked.  
N rolled her eyes and snorted. “Just a few minutes ago. They knocked me out since Lam was being a bit… stubborn.”  
Lambda grumbled as N swatted her, attempting to get rid of the tiny hologram.

Score 1-0 to Lam.

The second incident had occurred in the hallway while walking away from the med bay. Her argument with Lam had only worsened and every time another agent came by, Lambda would hide her hologram, making it seem like N was talking to herself. It was becoming exceedingly annoying.  
The third incident had been earlier that day, when N was using the kitchen to bake cookies, (at Caboose’s request), and with the incessant whispering in her ear by the tiny pink hologram, she had accidentally added yeast instead of baking powder.  
“I. will. Get. You. Lam!” N had spat, her frustration mounting as she tried to remove as much of the yeast as possible.  
_~Psshh, yeah, right. I’d like to see you try. You already tried to slap me in the med bay. Clearly you forget I’m not-~_  
N threw flour at the figure, it went straight through.  
_~-not a real human.~_  
It wasn’t just N who was getting increasingly annoyed at her AI. The other agents had all been subject to the AI’s critique. For instance, when N had managed to create a rather nasty cut on her finger and went to West for treatment.  
_~Agent West Australia, are you sure that’s the right way to apply gauze? Because in my sources there’s a far more efficient way if you just-~_  
“Lambda, I will say this in the nicest way possible. Please shut the fuck up.”

Currently, Lambda was busy complaining about her natural colouring.  
_~You see, I really don’t feel like the colour pink. I mean, out of the colours, I got cotton-fucking-candy pink. That’s just stupid. I feel like I should’ve been black. Black’s a nice moody colour and it goes with everything… really, it just seems annoying to not make us be able to change out colouring.~_  
N sighed. “How much longer do you plan to rant to me about this?”  
_~About... half an hour or so? Maybe longer, I dunno.~ The AI shrugged, ~but anyway, let me tell you about the tech you use, oh my god, your tech is so old…_ ~  
N rolled her eyes, “Lam, you’re acting like a child-” N stopped, an idea forming in her head, and she grinned.

If she’s going to act like a child, then she’ll get treated like a child.

It was during breakfast the next day that N first started with her new regime. When she was trying to converse with Carolina about the updated training schedule, Lam decided to interrupt.  
 _~Training? Why’re you talking about training, that’s boring, let’s talk about-~_  
“Lambda, if you interrupt again I’ll be giving you time out.” N interrupted, her voice clipped and actually serious for once. There was a brief silence.  
_~Time out? I’m not a child, I’m a fragment of-~_  
“You heard me. If you interrupt again, I’ll give you time out.”  
_~...How?~_  
“Simple. I’ll ask the Counsellor if I could pull you for a week or so because you were unwilling to cooperate during training, which could seriously risk my concentration during missions. I’m sure he would be more than willing to oblige.”  
 _~…You wouldn’t dare.~_  
“Oh, I would.”  
The two stared each other down for quite some time until Lambda’s hologram disappeared. Even the inside of N’s head went quiet.  
“…Lam?”  
No answer.  
“Lambda?”  
_~I’m going to take some time to think. I’ll...see you, Agent Nebraska.~_  
“Please, call me N.”  
It was 4 in the afternoon when Lambda decided to reappear. It felt strange to wander around with her thoughts completely to herself for the majority of a day, so when the bright pink hologram emerged, N patiently waited for the AI to speak.  
_~…I won’t interrupt you again.~_  
“Thanks, Lam, I appreciate it.”  
_~…But I’m still going to keep being me. I can’t just not do that. Which does mean how…annoying I know I am.~_  
N smiled and chuckled. “That’s alright with me, Lam. That’s just fine.”


	19. 17

West had to say, everyone was getting rather frustrated with the new addition to the team. N’s new AI, Lambda, was frankly, a bit of a bitch. Or to put it nicely, was really fucking annoying. It was the second day after N had received the pink AI, and she was already getting on everyone’s nerves.   
West had been forced to remain in Recovery, after what had happened with Maine. There’d been no news from the Councillor, which was quite frustrating. Even though she could see, she wasn’t allowed to leave, which was frustrating her. At the moment, the nurse was busy and Doc was out with his own crew, so the medic was the only medical personnel in the Recovery med bay. So, when N came in, hand bleeding everywhere, West just sighed and grabbed some supplies.   
“N, what did you do this time?”  
The purple and silver agent laughed sheepishly. “I’m still getting used to having Lam in my head. She distracted me while I was cutting something in the kitchen.”  
West shook her head and smiled. “N, you do that to yourself anyway.”  
“…Good point.”  
It wasn’t a deep cut, thankfully. Well, it was bleeding badly, but it wasn’t the worst laceration in the world. A quick wash, some gauze, and some rest, and it would be all fine. The medic was still getting used to using the camera on her shoulder to see, but she was becoming quite good at reaching for items and whatnot, so she figured she’d be alright dealing with a simple laceration.   
>>Do you require any assistance, West?>>  
Z popped up at West’s shoulder. She shook her head and smile. “I’m right, Z, thanks.”  
It was at that point in time that Lambda decided to appear at N’s shoulder. She peered, curiously, at Zeta. West could feel his uncertainty. AI fragments weren’t supposed to speak to one another, but Lam crossed her arms and tossed her hair out of her eye, giving Zeta a sceptical look.  
“Who the fuck are you?”  
Zeta looked at West for confirmation. The medic smiled and nodded towards the pink hologram. “It’s fine, Z. Go ahead.”  
Lambda snorted. “You’re really whipped.”  
West’s AI sighed.   
>>It’s nice to meet you. I’m Zeta.>>  
“Lambda. That’s my name. So, call me by that. Not this Lam shit, or whatever.”  
West snorted, and she could feel Zeta’s sigh inside her mind, again. “Ball of sunshine, you are.”  
N gave a sheepish smile. “Sorry West.”  
The medic laughed, slightly. She was almost done irrigating N’s hand with the bottle of saline. Once she was done, she placed it to the side, before grabbing a few pieces of gauze to dab the wound dry. Lam decided to butt in at that point, much to West’s – and Zeta’s – annoyance. It always annoyed West when someone tried to tell her how to do her job. Seemed it was rubbing off on Zeta as well.  
“Agent West Australia, are you sure that’s the right way to apply gauze? Because in my sources there’s a far more efficient way if you just-“  
The medic rolled her eyes. “Lambda, I will say this in the nicest way possible. Please shut the fuck up. I’m a medic. I know how to apply fucking gauze.”  
N smiled sheepishly, waving her hand through Lam’s hologram, to the annoyance of the tiny AI. West just smoothed the primapore over the laceration before nodding to N.  
“You should be fine. You know how to deal with cuts?”  
The other agent chuckled. “I’ll be fine, West. I’ve injured myself enough times to be able to look after cuts like these.” She stood, smiling at the medic. “Thanks, West. Sorry for Lambda.”  
The medic waved it off. “It’s no problem. It always takes a bit to get used to.”  
N smiled, before she said her goodbyes, leaving West in the Recovery bay. The medic sighed before she returned to her bed. It was a bit lonely, as everyone was busy at the moment. At least she had Z to talk to.   
>>West, are you okay?>>  
“Hm? What do you mean, Z?”  
>>Agent Erith. You haven’t spoken to her since we went to the training room, and she has not tried contacting you. Are you okay?>>  
The medic stared up at the ceiling before sighing. “Yeah, I’m fine. She just got angry since she was worried, I reckon. I wouldn’t be surprised if she needed a few days to come down from it.”  
>>Do you want to talk about it?>>  
“Nah, it’s okay. But thanks.”  
She felt Zeta nod in her head.   
>>It is getting close to dinner. Should we go to the mess hall?>>  
West sat up in her bed, running a hand through her hair. “Yeah, that should be alright. Won’t be doing anything dangerous there, probably, but knowing our friends…”  
She could feel Zeta chuckle as she swung her legs over the side of the bed. Thankfully, she was going to have her bandages removed soon. She’d already had most of them taken away, leaving only a single layer, but she was looking forward to being able to use her own eyes again.  
Standing, she made her way towards the door before she and Zeta headed to the mess hall.

“CERBERUS!”  
The two were nearly at the mess hall when West heard someone yell, in what sounded like panic. West paused, for about a second, before she sprinted towards the mess hall. She was there in less than ten seconds, when she was confronted with Cerberus snarling and… roaring? It sounded more animal than human, and left her almost dumbfounded for a moment. She didn’t think her friend would ever be capable of making those sounds.   
Cerberus was standing, hunched over and panting, in the centre of all the chaos. A few metres away, about three tables were upturned, holes punched through them. A few soldiers were lying unconscious, and everyone seemed almost too shocked to move as Cerberus seemed to lunge after Maine, who had Sigma perched on his shoulder. West reacted automatically, tackling Cerberus to the ground. She’d only been a few metres away, anyway.   
That was probably a bad move, as Cerberus was much stronger than she anticipated. However, she knew how to restrain a person, even if they were much stronger than she was. Wrapping herself around her friend, she restrained his arms before she wrapped her legs around his waist.   
Ow! Fuck! He head-butted her! Cerberus had lashed back with his head, managing to smash the back of his head into West’s nose. West yelled in pain, as she pulled her head away from her friend. What the fuck was happening?!  
Thankfully, due to West’s tackle, the other agents were spurred into motion. Carolina ran over with South and York, where they pinned Cerberus to the ground, restraining him. He was becoming less frantic, however, beginning to calm down. Thank the gods. Once the other agents managed to pin Cerberus down, West pulled away, stumbling, with her hands going instantly to her nose. Touching her face and nose, she pulled her fingers away before she held them in front of the camera on her shoulder.   
Blood. That was a lot of blood. Her nose was probably broken. Or she’d burst a blood vessel when Cerberus had head-butted her. There were a few blood vessels in her nose. This was just fucking great.   
Within a few minutes, the whole mess hall was crowded with agents and soldiers wanting to find out what had happened. Suddenly, the door burst in, revealing the Director with the largest scowl on his face that West had ever seen. He was accompanied with a number of personnel that dealt with the AI, who rushed over to Cerberus. The agent had stopped thrashing, and when the AI guys basically picked him up, he relented and followed. He did turn, once, to snarl at Maine before he stalked off. No, that didn’t seem right. Cerberus wouldn’t attack Maine. When Cerberus passed the Director, the man touched Cerberus’s shoulder gently before turning to nod at the Councillor. He then followed the AI personnel and Cerberus, shutting the doors behind him.  
The Councillor sighed, raising his arms to silence the muttering crowd. “Agent Cerberus will be fine. He is just having some… problems adjusting to his AI. The Director will answer any urgent questions later, but for now, please go ahead with your normal routine.” He then turned tail and left.  
West grunted in pain, still holding her face. She walked over to the closest table before slumping down on the adjoining seat. Most of the soldiers began to wander away, before West steeled herself, standing up. She needed to go strap her nose, since it felt like some of the bones had been shifted out of place. Her nose was still leaking blood, running down her face. She couldn’t see it but she kept her hands in place to keep her nose still. Ugh. She’d have to wash her gloves later.  
“West? Why are you holding your nose… shit!” Erith had turned to see West clutching her nose. She had only come after Cerberus had been tackled to the ground, so she hadn’t seen the enraged agent head-butt his friend. “Are you okay?!”  
West waved her free hand, snuffling slightly from the blood leaking from her nose. “I just need to go deal with this. Give me twenty minutes.”  
Erith frowned. “I’m coming with you.”  
“Where are you guys going- West, is that blood?!” North had wandered over to see how the medic was when he spotted the blood dripping down the woman’s face. She sighed.  
“I’m just going to Recovery. I’m going to miss dinner at this point…” She grumbled the last part, missing the look Erith shot North, who nodded in response. She turned, heading towards the door, when she felt Erith slip in step next to her. Once they were in the corridor, West decided to use Zeta to see how bad her nose was. “Z, how bad’s my nose?”  
The AI popped up at her shoulder, floating just in her field of view.  
>>You have fractured the nasal bone. It is only a greenstick fracture, however, and with proper support, it should heal in time.>>  
The medic sighed. Just what she needed. Another injury. “Thanks Z.” The small AI nodded before disappearing back into her head. He was concerned about Erith, who was remaining quiet.  
“West… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you or get that angry, but after what Maine did, and how quickly it happened…” Erith sighed, sounding slightly frustrated.   
“It’s okay. You were worried. I can do some stupid things, don’t worry.”  
The two walked in silence for a few minutes. “So… we’re all good?”  
West smiled. “Yeah, we’re all good, Erith. Don’t worry.”  
The other agent smiled before it morphed into a full blown grin. “Good. I actually have something for you, if you want it. I was going to give it to you earlier but…” Erith laughed, grinning sheepishly. “This seems like a good time to give it.”  
“What is it?”  
The other agent laughed. “You’ll just have to wait and see! I smuggled it on the ship, so don’t tell the Director or he’ll have my hide.”  
West chuckled. “No problem. I can do that.”

A few minutes later, the two agents made it to Recovery. Erith disappeared to go retrieve her gift, so West ended up strapping her nose. She had to take some of the bandages off her face, revealing the gauze underneath, but she did need to strap it. It still hurt pretty bad – it was a fracture, so no shit – but after she took a couple ibuprofen tablets and sprayed some cophenylcaine spray up her nose to stop the bleeding, the pain subsided somewhat. She’d also cleaned the blood of her face, gingerly dabbing at the healing wound on her neck. She’d have pain for the next few weeks and a horrific bruise within the next few days, but what happened, happened.   
It did allow her to get a good look at her injuries though, in the massive mirror she had dragged over to the bed in order to strap her face. Most of her left eye was swollen shut, as her whole left eye was covered in healing scar tissue. The medic couldn’t help but wince. She was going to have a massive scar on her face, as the edge of the healing tissue stretched from just above her left eye to the edge of her nose. It would fade somewhat with time, but she’d always have a scar. Oh well.   
Erith appeared in the Recovery bay a few minutes later, with North, York and Carolina in tow, surprisingly enough. They were all holding trays of food, with York and North carrying two trays each, which West supposed were for her and Erith. Speaking of Erith, the agent grinned, holding out a small bowl in her hands. The medic stared at it curiously before a small, black and gold fish swam out from behind a plant decoration to ogle at the room.   
West couldn’t help but laugh. “A fish? You got me a fish.”  
The other agent shrugged, grinning. “Aren’t animals supposed to calm people down or some shit? I dunno, I just thought it’d be a good present.”  
Carolina took one look at the fish before she shook her head. “Don’t let the Councillor or the Director see that, Erith. You know pets aren’t allowed on the Mother of Invention.”  
West chuckled, shaking her head as the cyan agent perched on one of the beds, giving a tight smile. York and North both seemed pretty tense as well. Not surprising, considering what had happened. “He can stay in my med bay once it gets fixed up.”   
North smiled, passing West a tray of food. She nodded her thanks and the five agents began to eat in silence. After a few minutes of picking at her food, West sighed.   
“Carolina, do you know what happened to Cerberus?”  
The other redhead sighed, briefly. Cerberus had mentioned something about seeing Carolina as a sister at one point, so West thought that she might be more well informed than she was. Carolina shook her head, raising it from her food to look at West. “I’m sorry, West. The Director hasn’t told me much, other than Cerberus had his AI implanted a few days ago. And that it was alien.”  
Everyone in the room paused before York almost dropped his fork. “I’m sorry?!”  
“Alien. How is that possible, Carolina?!” North gave Carolina a disbelieving look, who shrugged in response.  
“I don’t know, other than it was part of the data that we ripped from that Covenant ship we rescued the Reds and Blues from. The Director didn’t say much else. I’m… worried about Cerberus. I’m not sure what having that thing in his mind will do to him.”  
The other agents fell quiet. West frowned. “Is that why he attacked Maine in the mess hall?”  
Carolina shook her head. “I don’t know. West, I’m sorry I can’t give you more information.”  
The agents fell back into the worried silence.   
She just hoped her friend was okay.


	20. 18

The next few days were met with an unnerving and tense silence. West hadn’t heard anything from Cerberus, or even the Director. She wasn’t expecting much from him, though, since the imposing man never really told her or the other agents anything.  
So, the medic had been left in the dark with her broken nose and healing face. Her friends had continued to visit the Recovery med bay, either to keep her company or to give her updates on what was happening around the ship. Carolina had popped in to tell the medic that, while they hadn’t found the missing drugs, she was personally investigating the man’s contacts in an effort to try track down whoever blew up the med bay. That was better than nothing, she supposed.  
Her nose with still aching, and had swollen up to leave West’s face even more puffy and red. She’d given herself anti-inflammatories, which would help the swelling, but her face now had a massive, purple-black bruise that covered her nose. It was a bit unsightly, but that didn’t really bother the medic. The pain was more annoying than anything else, but West couldn’t help that. Doc had also removed the bandages and gauze on her face, allowing the wounds to ‘air out.’ It would help the tissue heal and scab up, so to speak. It would take a while for the tissue to fully heal, but that was the same for all injuries. 

The agents had all been a bit tense and cautious, as West supposed most were worried about Cerberus. From what Wash had told her, the Reds and Blues were worried about the agent as well, with Junior apparently asking Tucker where his friend was. Cerberus was a good friend to the cyan agent and alien baby as he often took care of Junior.  
West sighed from her spot in the Recovery bay. The worry was almost tangible at this point. Hmmm…  
The medic sat up, an idea forming in her head. Why not? It might be an interesting thing to do…  
>>What are you thinking about, West? What’s ‘AFL’?>>  
The redhead laughed. “It’s a… game, from my home country. Australian football, essentially. It might be a good way to cheer everyone up. Actually… the training hall should be big enough to fit everyone in, and if we get the Reds, Blues and Freelancers…”  
The medic stood, a smile creeping onto her face. AFL was an extremely popular game that was played back home in Australia. She could still remember, when she was 16, when the West Coast Eagles, (her supporting team), and the Fremantle Dockers, (the only other West Australian team), had been first and second on the national ladder. That had been an exciting season. While the Dockers gotten knocked out of the finals, the Eagles managed to get into the finals against Hawthorne. They lost, sadly, but for most people in her country, AFL was a staple sport. Even if you didn’t know the game well, you’d either played it as a kid or could at least recite most of the teams. West had done and could do both of those things.  
The redhead grinned, making her way to the door. Most of the freelancers should have been in the training hall already, so if she caught Carolina and asked her if she could stage a match between the Freelancers and Reds and Blues…  
Walking swiftly, she managed to make it to the training hall within a few minutes. Taking the stairs down, she was faced with the Freelancer’s normal training regime, although it lacked its usual vigour.  
“Carolina!” The medic called out to the cyan agent, who was standing and surveying her crew while they practised sparring. She turned, and when she caught sight of West, gave a short smile.  
“West. What can I do for you?”  
The medic smiled, almost sheepishly, before she launched into her plan. “I was wondering if I could hold an AFL match to cheer everyone up.”  
“…AFL?”  
“Oh, sorry. Australian football. It’s a good game. It might be helpful in cheering everyone up. We can get the Reds and Blues involved as well.”  
The medic received a sceptical look. “We play… for fun? But, we need to train, West.”  
“Well, it might be useful in helping everyone to learn how to be light on their feet. There’s a lot of tackling. Trust me, Lina, it’ll be good for everyone.”  
The other redhead watched the medic for a few seconds before she sighed, giving a slight smile. “That might be just what we need at the moment. Okay. What do you need?”  
West turned to survey the freelancers. “Well, we need to go get the Reds and Blues, if they’re not busy,” Carolina snorted, so she supposed they weren’t, “and we need some markers for goals. And a scoreboard. Oh, and a ball. Do you have any rugby balls? It’s the closest thing to an AFL footy.”  
Carolina paused. “Ah, I don’t know about a ball, but I can ask FILISS to get you the equipment you need. HEY, ERITH!” She cupped her hands over her mouth, calling out to the teal and orange agent. Her head shot up from where she was being pinned to the ground by South, who let her go. She jogged over to the two, panting slightly.  
“Yeah?”  
“Erith, can you go get the Reds and Blues? West wants to organise a game of some sort between us and them.”  
The brunette nodded, heading over to the stairs. Good.  
Wandering over to the supply cabinet, West pulled out a number of bright yellow markers that would stand out very clearly against the darker background of the training room wall. If she stuck them to the actual wall, she was left with four vertical lines on the wall, with about a metre and a half between each marker. She could feel the freelancers begin to watch her curiously as Carolina called for their attention, but she didn’t pay them any attention until she had finished setting up two sets of the markers, on opposite ends of the wall. Perfect.  
It was at that point in time when the Blood Gulch Crew rocked up, grumbling and complaining as they usually did. West couldn’t help but grin. If she managed to get everyone into playing, it would be quite fun.  
West wandered over to the supply closest, picking up a silver, shiny whistle and a bright red football, which seemed to be nearly a decade old. It was really old and worn, but it would do the job. She then went over to stand next to Carolina, who was staring at the group, arms crossed.  
“Oi, why the fuck are we here? You woke me up from my beauty sleep.” Grif grumbled, crossing his arms while scowling at the two freelancers. Simmons wacked him upside the head, and the two began to bicker between themselves. Carolina looked to West with a raised eyebrow and a sigh.  
“Hey, lovebirds! Shut up and listen!” Erith yelled from the back of the group. West smiled and nodded in thanks.  
“So, I figured it might be a bit of fun to have a friendly AFL match between the Freelancers and the Reds and Blues.”  
“Uh… AFL?” Wash raised an eyebrow while crossing his arms. West nodded.  
“Australian football. It’s a fun game to play with friends. You have two teams and you have to try score goals, in order to score points. A goal is when you kick the ball in between the two middle posts, which is six points.”  
“What are the other posts for then? Decoration?” South looked rather unimpressed. North just shushed her, to which she shot him a scathing glare.  
“No, if you kick a goal in between those posts, you get one point. That also happens if you hit the post with the ball. When playing, you can either kick or handball the ball. No throwing that ball. If you throw the ball, it gets handed over to the other team.”  
“And, what’s a handball?” York asked curiously. He was standing near the front of the group, so she just decided to demonstrate herself by handballing the footy to York. He handballed it clumsily back, but managed to not stuff it up.  
“That, basically. It’s not hard to learn. You can also kick the ball. If you manage to catch a ball without it touching the ground, it’s called a mark, and that means you can get a free kick. You also have to bounce the all on the ground every few metres and once you bounce it twice, you have to kick or handball the ball to someone else. Otherwise, it’s a handover. Also, you can tackle people, but only below the waist. You guys get all that? It’s not hard to pick up.”  
You could almost see South’s eyes light up as soon as West mentioned tackling, but most of the agents nodded, some more enthusiastically than others. Carolina looked to West with a raise eyebrow. “Teams?”  
The medic nodded, counting the number of heads. There were seven Reds and Blues and eleven freelancers, not including herself or Doc, who was standing off to the side. “Okay, two freelancers will have to play for the Reds and Blues.”  
“Tex. We’ll take Tex.” Church’s voice erupted urgently from his position at the back. The agent in question shrugged, moving to stand with Church, who looked a tiny bit more relieved. West chuckled, and Wash nodded towards West, moving to stand next to Tucker, who gave him a lopsided grin.  
“Okay, that’s the teams sorted. I’ll be umpiring. The Blood Gulch Crew can score this way,” She pointed to the set of goals near the destroyed lift, “And the freelancers can score that way.”  
She gave the two teams a few minutes to decide where they wanted to place people in terms of defence, midfield and attacking. It was quite entertaining to see where everyone was being placed; in the Blood Gulch defence was Grif, Wash and Caboose, their midfield consisted of Tucker, Simmons and Sarge, while Donut and Tex were attacking. The freelancers had apparently set their team up to mirror the other crew’s; in defence was Carolina, North and York, the midfielders were Maine, Wyoming and Florida while South and Erith were attacking. After West had explained the rules, again, she called for a member from each team to do the toss up of the ball. Maine was chosen for the freelancers, and Simmons was tearfully pressured into facing the massive freelancer for Blood Gulch.  
The two stood face to face, about a metre and a half apart when West threw the ball up in the air. Maine jumped and tapped the ball to Florida, who ran, bounced the ball before trying to do a dismal handball to Wyoming. The ball bounced, and while Wyoming stumbled for the ball, Tucker sprinted towards the white freelancer, snatching the ball up. He ran towards his scoring end, almost being tackled by Maine, who just narrowly missed the cyan agent. Tucker managed to pass the ball off to Donut, who fumbled with the ball before Tex grabbed it. Carolina charged towards the blond agent, who was a second too slow in passing the ball off to Donut. The cyan agent tackled Tex to the ground, managing to fling her arms around her waist.  
West blew her whistle, motioning with her hand towards the Freelancer’s side. “Carolina’s ball.”  
Tex grumbled but relented, and the redheaded agent kicked the ball over to Maine, who caught the ball. He kept running, however, before he handballed the ball off to South, who just charged towards the goals. Wash attempted to tackle the purple agent, but he missed, managing to send himself skidding across the ground as South sidestepped him. “Caboose, South needs your help!”  
You could just hear South’s scream of “Oh hell no!” before she was tackled to the ground by an overexcited Caboose, who managed to get a turnover. Wash took the kick, managing to kick the ball to Church, who handballed it to Tex, who managed to kick the footy into the goal.  
The medic grinned, blowing the whistle. “That’s the Reds and Blue’s ball. FILLIS, that’s six points to them.” And the game continued on.

West was glad to say, that after nearly half an hour of playing, everyone seemed to be getting really into the game. Thankfully, everyone was mainly following the rules, though she had to pull some of the Reds and Blues up due to their unwillingness to follow the turnover rules. At the moment, the freelancers were winning, as they were up by 17 points. It was surprisingly close, so West supposed, that for all of their complaining and whining, the Reds and Blues actually worked really well together. Well, when they were pushed into it. But that wasn’t the point.  
They were stopping for a quick break, before the two teams got back to playing. It made West happy to see that they actually wanted to play her country’s game.  
“Hey, West! Why don’t you play?” N called out from her position next to Donut. The pink agent raised his head and grinned.  
“Yeah, West, why don’t you play with us? I’m sure one of us could umpire for you. You can play your own game! It’ll be fun!”  
West grinned, crossing her arms over her chest. The others were looking at her now, but she shook her head. “Sorry, Donut, sorry, N. I’d just thrash all of you. It wouldn’t be fair.”  
South gave the medic a disbelieving look. “You’re half blind. How could you thrash any of us, West?”  
“Yeah, West. What, you scared of a bunch of amateurs beating the master?” Tucker gave the medic a sly grin before she rolled her eyes. Well, she’d just have to make them regret that.  
“I can umpire for you, West.” Wash stood up, smiling slightly. The medic nodded, tossing the silver whistle to her friend. They could always self-umpire, if Wash ended up missing penalties. “Should we play another quarter?”  
Everyone nodded, taking their previous positions on the field. West was playing in midfield, however, as Church was now in defence. Maine was standing, ready for the tossup, when West stood opposite. She couldn’t help but grin. It had been so long since she had last played! And, even though Maine was nearly half a metre taller than her, she was excited. She was an aussie. This was in her blood!  
When Wash blew the whistle, tossing the ball up, West just managed to twist her body into tapping the ball over to Sarge, who took off running. Maine shot a confused look at the medic, who couldn’t help but laugh. People always underestimated how high she could jump!  
Running alongside Sarge, she received a handball from him before she passed the ball onto Tex, who dodged Carolina narrowly, who had been getting very competitive. York dived for Tex as well, but she managed to handball the ball into the goal. West grinned. That counted!  
Wash blew the whistle, grinning slightly at West. “Six points to the Blood Gulch Crew.”  
As the game progressed, West had to marvel at how easily the game came back to her. Even though she was using a camera to see and her face was swollen, she was easily dominating the game. South was getting rather frustrated as a result, having been tackled by West. The Blood Gulch Crew were getting pretty excited as a result of West's involvement, and within nearly ten minutes of playing, they had overtaken the freelancers by ten points.  
When the quarter ended, and Wash blew the whistle, most of the Reds and Blues ended up cheering and high fiving each other. West supposed that they were happy at having beaten the freelancers at something. She had to say, the other agents took losing in good spirits, shaking hands with the other team. South offered her hand to West, who shook it with a triumphant grin. South just rolled her eyes, grinned, before she went over to slap her brother on the back. Even Carolina offered her hand to Tex, who looked at the cyan agent for a moment before accepting her handshake with a smile. Wash shot the medic a grin, which she gladly returned. That had been a good game, and everyone seemed to be much happier as a result.  
They’d timed the game well, as the lunch bell ran not a minute after the game ended. The freelancers and other agents began to wander out, chatting to each other, while West hung around to pack up the equipment. She was still pumped from the excitement of the game, but that would wear off.  
But, for now, she was feeling a lot happier than she had been in the past few days.


	21. 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just for future reference, anything in bold is the alien language

The freelancers had just entered the mess hall when a panting soldier ran up to them. West had been walking with Wash, with the other agents already having entered the mess hall. The soldier was almost hyperventilating and was extremely out of breath. Where had he come from?  
“Agent West Australia, Agent Dufrense! We need your help! Agent Cerberus was just brought in and he’s seriously injured! He’s in Recovery!”  
West turned, sharply, to look at Doc, who nodded quickly. Together, the medics headed out the mess hall, shoving past the incoming soldiers before they began to sprint towards Recovery. It only took a few minutes, running as they were, where both West and Doc burst into Recovery to find the nurse and surgeon trying to stabilize an apparently semi-conscious Cerberus, who was thrashing and growling against the soldiers holding him down.  
For a few seconds, West was frozen with the image of her friend acting so savage. She had never seem Cerberus act like this before. What was he?  
But as the nurse was almost knocked away, West spurred herself into movement. Running over, she began to help the surgeon restrain the thrashing agent while Doc and the nurse prepared a sedative that would be strong enough to calm Cerberus.  
“Hold his arm still, West!” Doc already had a needle prepped. She wasn’t sure what they were giving him, but she had faith in Doc and the nurse. Gripping Cerberus’s wrist, the medic managed to pin his arm to the bed, having to lean most of her weight on top of his wrist in order to keep his arm mainly still. Bloody hell! How was he that strong?!  
Hands barely shaking, Doc had the nurse further steady the agent’s arm before he found a suitable vein. Pushing the plunger down, he compressed the needle, injecting the sedative. The nurse and Doc then backed off. It wouldn’t take very long for the drug to take effect, and as West watched, she could see the agent slump back to the bed. She stepped back, giving a sigh of relief. That had been unnerving.  
“West, are you okay?” Doc deposited the needle in the biohazard container before turning to the other medic. West nodded. The fact that had happened had left her a bit shaken, but she would be okay.  
“How about you, Doc? Nurse? Surgeon?” West turned to the other medical personnel. Doc nodded, the nurse smiled tightly and the surgeon just sighed, slightly. She raised an eyebrow at Doc before flicking her gaze towards the surgeon. “What now? Do you want us to watch Cerberus?”  
The surgeon nodded. “Yes, that would be greatly appreciated.” The man turned to the nurse, who was placing the sedative back in the drug cabinet. “Nurse, may I have your assistance? Cerberus may have fractured one of my fingers.”  
The nurse nodded, and the two wandered over to the edge of the room to deal with the surgeon’s fingers. Meanwhile, West turned her attention towards the docile agent. He had a number of injuries that needed to be dealt with, it seemed, so the medic gathered some equipment and rubber gloves before beginning her initial assessment of her friend.  
Well, the most glaring injury was the massive head wound, just above the agent’s right ear. It was bleeding profusely, resulting in almost half of Cerberus’s face being drenched in dark red blood. The medic sighed. The wound – a puncture, or some sort of laceration, by the looks of it – was a small, deep cut, just above the agent’s right ear. It was quite deep, and when West inspected it, it appeared to go right down to the bone. That would need stitches. Head wounds were notorious for bleeding, due to the large amount of blood vessels near the surface of the skin.  
“Zeta, make a note to check for neurological damage as well.”  
The AI appeared by the medic’s shoulder, giving a short nod. This was his first serious casualty, and West could feel his caution. She understood that well enough. You could have all the training in the world, but if you couldn’t handle yourself or your casualties… it wouldn’t end well.  
There also appeared to be a contusion on his right temple, so West supposed the agent had been hit in the head by whatever had caused this. She also supposed that had been what had triggered the violent outburst. It had probably altered Cerberus’s mental state.  
West figured that there might be other injuries, but since the head wound was still bleeding sluggishly, she decided to treat that first. She would just apply a temporary dressing for the moment, then Doc or someone else could put sutures in later. With a small bottle of saline, she irrigated the wound before dabbing it gently with a piece of gauze. She then wiped most of the blood away with a few medi-swab patches that were soaked in antiseptic. Pressing a wad of gauze to the agent’s temple, she quickly bandaged his head, making sure to apply a decent amount of pressure. She’d know if she was cutting circulation if his skin began to turn blue.  
Once that was done, West began to inspect the rest of the agent, taking her primary survey from the top. West was mumbling to herself as she went, with every so often, telling Zeta to make a note for later.  
“Okay… airway’s clear, no blockage… breathing is…” she paused to feel the agent breathing, “Two in ten seconds, that’s good… pulse is slightly fast… 93 beats per minute.” The medic began to check the agent’s circulation. “Capillary refill is good, skin colour is normal, but may be a bit pale. Zeta, can you check his blood pressure?”  
>>It is 94 systolic, 60 diastolic.>>  
“Thanks. That’s probably from loss of blood. He must have some other injuries…” Turning to the office, where the surgeon was having his hands strapped, she yelled out to him, “Hey, surgeon! Are we taking spinal precautions?!”  
“No!” He called back. West nodded. That was good. It meant that she could roll him herself. Shifting him slightly on the bed, she winced as she saw the red staining the sheets. Cerberus grumbled something incoherent, but she proceeded to roll him into the recovery position on his side. Placing his right hand under his chin and pulling his left arm to hang loosely on the bed, she made sure he could maintain his own airway before walking around the bed to check the agent’s back for injuries.  
It was pretty nasty. No wonder the agent had low blood pressure; Cerberus had a number of deep gouges in his back, narrowly missing the metal prosthetics attached to his spine. The edges of the wounds looked like they had almost been cauterised. Energy weapons were the only weapons capable of leaving wounds like these. West had seen wounds identical to these in the war.  
Oh, she was defiantly going to be having a chat to the Director when this was over.  
Thankfully, there was only three gouges. The largest one ran vertically from Cerberus’s right shoulder to just above his right hip, with a slightly shorter one mirroring it on the left side of his body. The third ran from about the base of Cerberus’s ribs to the beginning of his tail. These had been done intentionally.  
His undersuit had also been shredded in the process, so West just got the trauma shears to cut his suit off. She threw it in the biohazard bin before she began to clean the gouges on Cerberus’s back. Using some saline and some gauze, she began to gently clean the wounds, wincing when Cerberus whimpered slightly at the contact.  
**“DO NOT TOUCH ME!”  
** ****West jerked back as an unknown voice snapped at her. Just above Cerberus’s head was a glowing red orb, that seemed to almost vibrate… angrily? West could feel Zeta’s confusion while he was trying to process what the orb had said since it had yelled in Sangheili. She shook her initial shock off before she began to bandage Cerberus’s torso, before the orb-AI seemed to almost growl at her.  
**“Do not touch me, human! You have no honor and therefore cannot touch me!”  
** ****West almost growled herself, but she spoke to the AI while she began to bandage her friend. **“I do not care if I have no honour, but I have an obligation and a duty to help my friend since he is injured.”  
** ******“You are the lowest class! Let this body die honorably; it is the gift my kind gave him.”  
** ****The medic shook her head. **“No.”  
** ****In response to that, the orb began to vibrate and flux angrily, hissing insults at the medic. He could do nothing, however, due to Cerberus being unconscious, which West was slightly grateful for.  
It took a little while, interwoven with the occasional pause to take observations, but West managed to bandage Cerberus’s torso up. She wasn’t really worried about bleeding, considering the state of the wounds, but it would help stabilize her friend. From the looks of it, the nurse and surgeon would take over from her, but since he was in a more stable state now, they could afford to take a little more time to prepare their equipment, since it wasn’t usually used for stitching up agents.  
“Agent West Australia, can you help us move Agent Cerberus into the theatre?”  
The medic nodded. “Yeah, of course.”


	22. First solo mission

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was written by my friend who initially wanted me to write this story.   
> it is not how Cerberus gets injured in chapter 19 but is rather just a bonus story

The AI winced in his mind as the freelancer watched the covenant ships from his seat in the carrier. He looked back down to his hands. They’d been shaking since he left the Mother of Invention, since he’d been given the mission. His first solo mission since receiving his captured AI and the arrival of West. He didn’t speak with his AI often during missions. They didn’t speak much anyway.   
They didn’t need to.   
His body still ached from the sudden arrival of the AI. He was never given the chance to adjust beforehand like the others. It wasn’t a fragment; it didn’t have a comfortable little compartment of its own in his armour. They’d put the damn thing inside him! The others shared their armour space with their AIs and he envied them for it. His tail twitched at the shared anger that lingered within the both of them. He had to share his own body! His own mind! It was The Director’s fault for the actions taken to put it there, but it was The Chairman’s fault for providing the influence to cause those actions. He stood with a low growl, stalking over to the open platform of the carrier. The others watched from their seats; concerned? Worried? He didn’t know and quite honestly he didn’t care. He hadn’t spoken with most of them since his implantation and he’d been in too much pain during the recovery period to speak with them anyway.  
The Chairman definitely had a hand in this mission. They were being stationed around the base to prepare for the oncoming attack while he was being dropped in the middle of it to help thin out the covenant’s numbers before they were able to get to the base. He stood and watched the ships lingering in the planet’s atmosphere; entranced, ignoring the words and conversation of his comrades behind him. The carrier began to swoop slightly, dropping through the atmosphere; a few meters from the ground below. He took that as his cue to leap from the platform to the wreckage of the battlefield below.  
…  
He didn’t know how long he’d been at this, wave after wave of Covenant forces charging at him. It’d been a while since he’d done something like this; only this time, he had more of an understanding of what they were saying. They shouted threats and praises to him, encouragement to their comrades. They were so similar to him, to the others. He felt his AI’s pain as his own as enemies were recognised and those that were once allies to it were slain. Why was The Director allowing The Chairman to put him through this? Did The Director even know about this? At first, Marines and Spartan forces were dropped in to help him but even they had to fall back to base. He wondered how the others felt about this, as forces retreated back to the base and he wasn’t present. Would they be angry? Anxious?   
Would they be fearing the worst?   
…  
He ran, hitting what he could. He couldn’t stop! If he stopped he would be hit; if he stopped, the cold and the snow would freeze his straining metallic joints. He gritted his teeth as shocks rippled through his body. His stealth enhancement had been damaged; shot by an elite sniper as he covered retreating and injured marines. Muscles twitched and spasmed painfully as he fell to the ground, rolling down the small slope as the last few grunts charged over. He dispatched them quickly as his tail thrashed around him, energy blade slicing as they attempted to go for the kill.  
He shakily got up and continued to run. If he lived through this, he would show them his armour footage, show them the shit he was being put through. He grabbed a gun from the body of a dead marine as he passed. The next wave would be coming soon and by the looks of it, it was hopefully the last. There wasn’t enough ammo left in the clip to last him through the wave, but it would get him through the brunt of it.  
…  
The final covenant ship began to swoop down to drop the elites to the battlefield. He snarled. He wouldn’t allow them to have the advantage. He opened fire at the ship, throwing himself off the slope and onto the platform. Elites yelled and screamed as the freelancer tore through their ranks, catching them by surprise. He jumped out the other side, falling back down to the earth and sending snow and ash flying around him. The agent grunted, his failing legs protesting and straining with the impact. He couldn’t keep moving around like this, blood pouring from his nose and mouth as his AI continued to panic.  
He groaned as he once again pushed himself back up. He could feel the blood leaking from beneath his helmet, making a small wet patch around the neck of his undersuit. He wanted to give up, he wanted to just lie down and allow the snow to freeze his body, but what would his comrades think? What would happen to them if he let these remaining elites get through? He bared his teeth and growled at the thought, communicating his determination to his AI, which ceased its panic, screaming dying down to an agitated rumble of agreement.  
...  
He was unaware of the many soldiers and marines he had helped cheering him on back at the base as his armour feed was broadcast on screen. The freelancers were watching in shock as they came in to see what the commotion was about. The Director watched on beside them, in both pride at the strength and determination of his creation, and anger at The Chairman for seeing this through behind his back. The Chairman simply watched from his seat, a wide, almost predatory grin on his face.  
…  
He turned to his remaining enemies as they approached, making a gesture and barking out a warrior’s greeting in their language. The elites froze and stared, caught off guard by his sudden show of respect. They stayed silent, each waiting to see what the other would do, until one of the elites stepped forwards, repeating the gesture and barking out the appropriate response. His AI purred at the familiarity as the rest of the elites did the same. Cerberus bowed his head slightly, feeling a strange pride at being recognized in this way.  
…  
The crowd watched on in silence as they observed the exchange. The marines, out of shock, and the few Spartans, out of respect for his actions. The Chairman frowned, disappointed, and The Director gave a small smile, knowing it had been him that taught his creation the importance of showing respect, even to one’s enemy. There appeared to be mixed responses among the freelancers.  
…  
With a nod of his head and a few clicks, one of the elites spoke.   
“You fight well, non-human,”   
The freelancer froze at being called ‘non-human,’ but quickly accepted the compliment. They then readied themselves as he heard faint chatter over their radios. The freelancer dropped into a stance; energy blade activating as he flicked his tail.   
“… but it seems we will both live to meet on the battlefield again.”   
He stumbled back as a shot hit his helmet. His visor was cracked, not quite shattered, broken enough to block his vision. He immediately threw his helmet off, the cold temperatures rushing around his face and ears, but the elites were already upon him.  
…  
Yells and shouts of outrage and despair broke out as the helmet tumbled to the ground, the view of the camera blurring until the helmet came to a stop. The helmet crookedly faced the conflict and comrades watched on as shots shattered through prosthetics and the lone freelancer was held up and restrained by a few of the group. Silent words were exchanged between the members of the group and one member pulled out a device, barking out orders to the others.  
…  
Pain shot up his legs as each metallic joint was shot and pieces of armour were removed from his restrained body. His bones and muscles immediately began to ache and tighten as the life support from his armour no longer regulated his body temperature. He immediately began to shiver, the elite with the device grabbing his jaw and forcing the freelancer to look him in the eyes.  
“Consider this a gift from our superiors.”   
The freelancer gasped as the back of his undersuit was ripped and pulled back to reveal his spinal augmentations.  
…  
A few of the elites turned to look away, seemingly not wanting to see what was going to happen next. By this point many of those watching looked angry, fists clenched and lips drawn tight. Maine continued to watch, looking devastated at not being able to help his friend. No one dared to speak in that moment; waiting to see what would happen, each knowing that the Covenant, and soon The Chairman, was going to pay.  
…  
The device was raised and the freelancer’s head was pushed forward slightly. He growled, every instinct telling him to fight back, but any thoughts of rebellion were immediately silenced when he felt a foot tread lightly over his tail in warning. Blood continued to drip from his nose and mouth, making little red spots in the snow beneath him. The device was struck back down, jammed into the main port at the base of his neck where the augmentation started. He arched his back and screamed with his AI as shocks shot through his body and white hot pain filled his head, with images of distant places flashing in front of his eyes.  
…  
Most of the room gasped; the freelancer thrashed and screamed in the elite’s grasp for a while before being disconnected from the device, being left panting on his knees in the snow. The elites then walked away, leaving him in the cold. He stayed on his knees, watching the sky for what felt like hours. He eventually began struggling to his feet. He continued to stumble and fall; joints were damaged and beginning to frost over. He eventually resorted to crawling toward his helmet. The camera shook as he picked it up, he was shivering violently, lips already turned shades of purple and blue beneath the blood. The crowd cheered when they spotted the pelican landing behind him, a marine and what appeared to be a Spartan running over to him.  
…  
Despite his pain, he smiled tiredly as the soldiers approached. They quickly got to work, trying to put the pieces of armour that weren’t broken back onto his freezing body. They let the life support system do its work to keep him alive, at least until they could get him back to base. He shakily got up to his feet, and began to walk toward the pelican with the help of the soldiers; strongly protesting to being carried, to which the Spartan simply laughed under his breath. Cerberus relaxed slightly as he was gently helped and strapped into one of the seats on board, the two sitting on either side of him.  
…  
Everyone that was able ran out to greet the pelican as it landed, clearing a path as the freelancer stubbornly limped between the soldiers towards the base. He seemed amazed to be greeted in the way that he was, smiling the best he could at his comrades and The Director. He looked exhausted by the time he reached The Director, his tail dragging behind him. The soldiers stayed at either side of him as they slowly loosened their grip on him. He wobbled slightly and his legs shook, splayed out to keep him upright. The Director reached out to him; whispering a few words to him, almost shouting in surprise as he quickly caught the collapsing freelancer who mumbled a few words back with a gentle smile before losing consciousness.


	23. 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a very short chapter (by my standards), so my apologies

The next few hours were met with a tense silence as Cerberus remained in the theatre. West mainly just paced worriedly outside while Doc just tried to throw himself into the nurse’s remaining paperwork. They were both worried and concerned about the other agent; given the state that he had been in, it was no wonder. 

West had just completed her thirty-third pace of the Recovery bay when Zeta appeared in an effort to calm the anxious medic. She had felt his growing concern in the back of her mind, but she had ignored it in order to think. What happened? Cerberus flips out before disappearing, before he’s brought back, acting absolutely savage, covered in a number of plasma burns. Had he been fighting aliens? The injuries he had were incredibly similar to burns and wounds she had seen in the war. 

>>West, we cannot do anything for Cerberus at this present moment. Please try to relax.>>

The medic sighed un frustration. “How can I relax, Z? My friend just went nuts!” She paused, coming up short, before she nodded resolutely. “I’m going to go speak to the Director.”

>>That may not be the best course of action, West. He may be in a volatile mood, considering what just happened. Please, just wait for a few more hours.>>

“I don’t want to wait, Zeta! He’s going to answer my questions, whether he likes it or not.” She nodded to Doc, who had partially risen from his seat in the office, in response to her raised voice. “I’m going to talk to the Director about this.”

The medic could hear his splutter as she grabbed her helmet before she stalked out. He wouldn’t follow, as they always needed someone on duty. He wouldn’t break that rule. Heading towards the bridge, she angrily passed by a number of soldiers coming from the mess hall. Walking quickly, it wouldn’t take more than ten minutes to reach the bridge, where the Director usually resided. 

 

When she reached the bridge, the medic was attempting to control her anger. She knew that it wouldn’t be a good course of action to talk to the infuriating man in such a state, but she was concerned and worried. Cerberus would have scars from what he had been through. And the way he had acted… it wasn’t right.

_I need to redirect my anger. I’m not going to do anything good if I blow up at the Director. ___

She could feel Zeta in the back of her mind, so she decided to focus on him. It helped calm her a little, so she took a breath in before she opened the door. The bridge was illuminated with LED lights, quite harsh against the metal walls. It was filled with blinking, beeping machinery, with a number of officers sitting at consoles, either going about their business or poised, ready to dictate anything the Director said. West didn’t pay them any mind. The man stood in the middle of the room, surveying the room with a cold eye, the Councilor standing a metre or so behind him. 

They both turned as she stalked in, the Director fixing her with an icy cold glare. West kept her head high. She would not allow this man to intimidate her. 

“Agent West Australia, what is the meaning of this?”

The medic scowled, crossing her arms. She had put her helmet on, so she had some sort of barrier between the two of them. Probably trivial, but she took comfort from it. “What is going on with Cerberus?”

She had to restrain herself from using profanities, but she did try to place as much anger into her voice. The Director fixed her with a dismissive eye before he turned on his heel towards the massive window at the end of the room. “That is none of your concern, Agent.”

“None of my concern? Cerberus is my friend! You take him away, gave us no reason, and bring him back like that! He was acting like a fucking animal! If you tell me that it is none of my concern, then I shouldn’t be here! I’m the team’s medic. I need to know what is going on so I can help this program!” West was almost growling at the end, as the outburst left her panting slightly. She composed herself quickly before she drew herself up to her full height. “I have every right, as a member of this team and as a medic, to know what is going on. You can’t deny me that.”

Silence had fell over the room as she spoke, and when she coldly delivered her last words, the beeping of the computers was the only noise in the room. West knew that she was provoking the Director. That she was playing with fire. But she didn’t care. Her friend was injured, and the Director was preventing her from being able to help Cerberus. And that made her mad. 

“Agent, you will return to the Recovery bay, and you will speak no more of this. That is a direct order.” The Director spoke firmly, as if restraining himself. He didn’t even look at her. 

West was about to protest when Zeta appeared at her shoulder. He didn’t have to say anything for West to know what he was thinking. She needed to leave, or otherwise, she would get into a fight that she wouldn’t be able to win. And he was right. “You sent him to fight the Covenant. I’m not stupid.”

The medic turned on her heel and left, leaving the bridge in silence.


	24. 21

West was still angry as she walked slowly back to Recovery. She couldn’t believe the Director! What nerve that man had! Huffing in frustration, the medic ran a gloved hand through her hair. She’d taken her helmet off, and it now hung absentmindedly by her side. 

It didn’t take very long to get back to Recovery, walking quickly, so she gave everyone inside a scare when she slammed the button to the door loudly. Doc was sitting on one of the bunks, trying to get Grif’s hand out of some sort of jar, while Wash, N and Simmons looked fairly annoyed with the chubby agent. West scowled as she stalked past her friends. With an angry huff, she tossed her helmet into the corner before slumping down onto the abandoned bunk, slinging an arm over her eyes. “I really fucking hate that man.”

The other agents didn’t need clarification to who she was referring to. She could almost see Wash sigh in apprehension, but she did feel him sit at the end of her bunk. Automatically, and to his slight annoyance, she stuck her legs on top of him, causing her and N to chuckle slightly. “Alright, West, what did you do?”

The medic sighed. It helped, being around her friends. She could feel her frustration and anger beginning to drain away, so she removed her arm to stare at the ceiling. “I wanted to find out what happened to Cerberus. He told me zilch, so I kinda blew up at him.”

You could almost hear a pin-head drop as the other agents stopped and paused to look at the medic. West turned her head to look at her friends, who had a range of expressions displayed on her faces. N looked slightly sympathetic, Simmons looked flabbergasted while Grif snorted in what, disbelief? Doc wasn’t paying attention to the conversation, but Wash just shook his head. “You’re an idiot, West.”

“Yeah, I know. But it just makes me so mad! I’m not stupid, which the Director seems to think.” The medic frowned, staring up at the ceiling again. 

“What do you mean?” N had folded her arms over her chest, curious.

“The injuries that Cerberus had. They were from energy weapons.” West turned to look at the others. “Like what the Covenant use. I’ve seen plenty of injuries like that from the war.”

Wash paused, thinking. “So, his disappearance from the last few days… they sent him to fight?” 

“That’s what I think.”

Silence fell over the agents again. N frowned, speaking up. “So… what can we do?”

The medic shrugged, scowling. “Nothing. We have no control over this.”

Most of the agents sighed, West included. The depressed atmosphere was broken when the doors to the theatre opened, and the surgeon and nurse wheeled out the unconscious Cerberus. Both West and Wash jumped up, and with N following, they came over to see how their friend was. 

He was laying on his back, a number of broad bandages wrapped around his torso. The undersuit on his torso had been removed, but his legs were still covered. While the surgeon wheeled the gurney out with the aid of anti-grav lifts, the nurse pushed along an IV bag that was currently attached to the agent, the needle having been injected into his left arm. 

Motioning to West, the surgeon pulled the medic to the side. “We surgically repaired the damage done to his back, but he’ll need to have a full neurological scan afterwards, just so we can be sure there was no lasting damage. Can you monitor him?” The medic nodded, so the surgeon nodded in response, as if pleased. “The general anaesthetic we placed him under should be wearing off soon. His AI was being troublesome. Call us if anything happens.”

The medic nodded. “Thanks.”

Together, the nurse and the surgeon wandered off in order to do their post-op wind down, as West usually called it. She supposed that they would come back later, in order to check on Cerberus. The medic turned back to her friends, who were watching her silently.

“West, can you help me? Grif’s got his hand really stuck in this jar.” Doc called from the other side of the room, sounding vaguely frustrated and very annoyed. 

West nodded, walking over to the other medic. Damn, Grif had gotten his hand really stuck. She gave him a sceptical look, while he just spluttered something about his secret stash of oreos or somethings. N just sighed before explaining that Grif had tried to steal from the kitchen, which wasn’t allowed. Rolling her eyes, West tried to think of something that could act as a lubricant so the other agent could slide his hand out. “Actually, that might work!”

Doc gave her a curious look as she ran over to where the nasopharyngeal airways were kept. Otherwise known as NPA’s, they were used to create an artificial airway for people who couldn’t maintain their own. And… ah-ha! Grinning triumphantly, West pulled out a tube of the lubricant they normally used for the NPA’s. It should do the trick.  
Coming back over to Doc and Grif, she tore the plastic stopper of the tube before carefully squirting the lubricant around the Hawaiian’s stuck hand. With a good twist, the opaque jar came right off, to the sigh of relief from Grif. He then shrieked in horror. 

“No! You’ve ruined my oreos!” 

Simmons just rolled his eyes before he linked his arm around the grieving man’s beginning to slowly drag him towards the exit. He waved slightly at the two medics, saying thanks. “Thanks for dealing with Grif, you guys.”

Doc chuckled, waving his team members out. “Anytime, Simmons.”

The other agents chuckled, before N smiled sheepishly. “I’ve got to go too. Sorry guys!”

“’Bout fucking time! Get your shit together, N.” Lambda appeared suddenly, spurring the purple and silver agent into moving towards the door with a wave of goodbye. 

West turned to look at Wash, who just shrugged. “Do you want me to hang around? I’ve got a few hours of free time before dinner. I wasn’t planning on doing anything.”  
“Yeah, that’ll be good. Recovery can get a bit boring when it’s quiet.”

Doc stood, brushing himself off before he turned to the other agents. “West, can you hold down the fort for a bit? I’ve got something I need to do in the Red’s and Blue’s section.”

The other medic nodded. “Yeah, no problem. I’ll radio you if Cerberus wakes up.” After Doc headed off, she turned to Wash, who had returned to sitting on one of the beds. “What do you want to do?”

The steel grey and yellow agent shrugged. “I don’t know. What is there to do for fun in a med bay?”

“… I can show you how to restrain someone and how to strap them into a stretcher?”

“Why not, that’s good enough.”

 

And that was how West found herself, sitting on the floor of Recovery, laughing her ass off as Wash attempted to get out of a C-collar and a scoop stretcher. She had been showing him how to apply the collar, just in case they ever needed to use one, when West had left him on the ground with a wicked grin. The medic knew just how hard it was to get out of a C-collar when lying down. After a few minutes of Wash attempting to get up – arms flailing wildly - he just resigned himself to lying on the ground while West regained her composure. After she removed the collar, he threw it at her with a warning to never speak of that again, but West could see that he was trying to fight his own smile. 

She’d been teaching him some of the more fun and interesting aspects of her equipment, such as using the traction splints (used for femoral fractures), the t-pod, (used for pelvic fractures), and how you could strap someone into a stretcher without them falling out. Wash seemed to know some of the gear, but not as extensively as West did, since she was the medic and the one with proper medical training. 

“Ugh…” 

West’s head shot up from her position on the floor as a slight groan came from the corner of the room. Scrambling up, she hurried over to find Cerberus blinking and moving his head. Standing a metre or so back, she approached her friend carefully, since she didn’t know how he would react. The medic hated to be acting in such a way, since Cerberus was her friend, but if he was going to possibly attack her or Wash, she needed to be ready. When she was satisfied that he wasn’t going to lash out at the other two agents, West approached the bed carefully. “Cerberus, how do you feel?”

His reaction wasn’t exactly what West was expecting. Whipping his head to look at the medic, the tailed agent pressed himself into the back of the bed, defensively. Hissing - or growling almost - the agent bared his teeth at West, who took a step back while raising her hands. The first thought that flashed through her mind was to make herself look unthreatening. Otherwise, Cerberus could possibly attack her or Wash, considering his reaction. Motioning to Wash, she caused him to stop in his tracks about a metre or two from the end of the bed. He just looked at her worriedly, but backed off.

“Cerberus, do you know where you are?” West lowered her hands slowly, trying to speak in a soft tone in order to calm the agent. He just glared at the woman, as if he didn’t recognise his friend. That was worrying. What if the head injury had effected his memory?

Considering this, West turned slightly to face Wash. If Cerberus had memory problems, then they’d need some help dealing with him, so she was going to send Wash to fetch the Councillor or the Director. He wasn’t her most favourite person in the world, but she didn’t know how to deal with Cerberus’s mental state. He wasn’t exactly normal.

She didn’t have a chance to say anything though as she heard a rustling from beside her, accompanied by Wash’s shout of alarm as Cerberus suddenly flung himself from the gurney. Once he hit the floor he took off running – on all fours – at a speed that left West astounded. Within a few seconds, Cerberus had sprinted from Recovery, disappearing from sight. 

“Fuck!”


	25. 22

“Wash, can you see Cerberus anywhere?!’

“I haven’t seen him, West! I’m moving as quickly as a I can.” 

The medic growled in frustration as she sprinted down the hallway. After Cerberus had bolted, she and Wash had split up in order to cover more ground. They weren’t sure which way the animalistic agent had ran, so West had taken the right corridor while Wash took the left corridor. They were maintaining constant radio contact, so West could hear Wash’s fast breathing as he sprinted down his own corridor. 

They soon ran into trouble, when West ran into a junction in the corridor. She could hear Wash swear over the radio as he reached a similar point. “Fuck!”

“We need to find a better way of searching, Wash!” 

The medic heard him exhale in frustration. “I know. Can’t you use Zeta to help?”

>>I may be able to access on-board cameras. Give me a moment.>>

A second or two later, West felt Zeta searching the video feeds in her mind. She also felt his triumph as he found what he was looking for; a clip of Cerberus, bolting down the corridor currently to West’s left. She could see the clip playing in her mind, so she took off down the hallway. 

“Wash, I’m tracking Cerberus with Zeta. Can you go find the Director?”

“I’m on it.” Wash clicked his radio off, so West just focused on tracking her friend down. While she was sprinting down the hallway near the mess hall, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Stopping abruptly – boots skidding on the metal floor – the medic stopped to investigate, just as Zeta spoke up.

>>West, I cannot find Cerberus on any of the on-board cameras. He’s disappeared, somehow.>>

“He didn’t disappear, Zeta!” The medic exhaled, frustrated. “He’s in the vents. Of course he’s in the vents! Bloody hell!” The vents in question had been ripped open by the rogue agent. The grate that normally blocked the opening had been torn off and was now hanging by a single screw. 

The medic sighed. This was going to make things a whole lot tougher. Clicking on her radio, she contacted Wash. “Wash, come in.”

There was a slight pause before the radio in her helmet crackled. “West, have you found Cerberus?”

“No. He’s gone into the vents. I’m not going to be able to follow him.”

Wash swore, before he repeated what she had just said. There was then a slight pause as he listened to whoever was speaking to him – the Director, she assumed – before he relayed the message to her. “Okay, the Director’s going to call everyone to the war room. You’ll need to come too.”

West nodded before she turned to head towards the war room. “Make sure you tell him that Cerberus may be potentially dangerous. Something’s wrong with his mind. Understood?”

“Understood. I’ll see you in the war room.”

 

The Director, the Councillor and Wash were already in the war room when West arrived. North, York and Carolina arrived a minute after West, while Maine rushed in not too soon after them. The other freelancers arrived quite quickly, with the Reds and Blues in tow. 

Once everyone was crammed into the room and around the table, the Director brought up a holographic map of the Mother of Invention. West winced. There was a lot of places Cerberus could have gone. This was going to be difficult. 

“Oi, boss. Why are we here? You said it was an emergency.” Church pushed his way to the front, fixing the Director with a deep set scowl. The Director scowled in return, before he almost reluctantly handed over the explanation to West. 

“Agent West Australia, please explain what has happened.”

The medic nodded, pushing her way to the front. “Cerberus is loose in the air vents. He woke up about twenty minutes ago before he ran away from us, in which Wash and I tried to track him down. Z and I managed to track him to about the mess hall before Z lost sight of him and I found a grate that had been ripped open. We need to find him quickly, since he’s in an altered mental state.”

“If I may, West Australia, why did Cerberus run? How was his mental state altered?” Delta, York’s AI, appeared at the table, shining a soft green light over the faces around the table. The Director began to respond to Delta, but West cut him off, to Zeta’s caution and alarm.

“He was injured. When he was brought in, he had a deep laceration to his right temple and a fairly large bruise in the same spot. I believe that is what caused him to act like this. Otherwise, his AI may have caused him to act like that. The surgeon and nurse had to sedate-“

“Agent West Australia, that is enough!” The Director snapped harshly at the medic, who just glared at her commanding officer. The Councillor just observed the situation with a cool detachment, but the freelancers and Red and Blues turned their attentions to the man at the head of the table. West caught N’s eye, who gave her a worried look. The Director would not take kindly to this.

“Director, what does she mean?” Carolina crossed her arms while staring at the Director.

“It is not your concern-“ The Director began before South decided to cut him off.

“’It is not our concern,’” She scowled at the man while imitating him in an extremely severe southern accent, before she continued on in her normal voice, “Don’t give us that bullshit. Cerberus wasn’t like this before you took him off wherever you took him, and any of us could tell you that since you put that thing in his head, he’s been acting like a total stranger!”

The other freelancers nodded their assent, murmuring amongst themselves. Some of the agents sounded angrier than others, muttering and glaring at the Director. West glanced at Maine, who just stood there silently. She had no idea what was running through his head, but she had no doubt that he would be extremely worried about his friend. 

“If I may interject?” The Councillor stepped forwards, coming to rest his hands on the tabletop. His soft voice silenced the mutterings, but he was met with the same amount of distaste and scowling as the Director had. West wasn’t exaggerating when she said that not everyone was a fan of the manipulative Councillor. When he wasn’t interrupted, the man continued on. “I would suggest that we focus on finding Cerberus, instead of arguing about how he ended up in this way or who caused him to act like this. We need to make sure that he’s safe.”

The grumbles returned from the group, but relented when the Director began to speak again. “Agent Cerberus entered the air vents at this point,” He motioned to where West had indicated, “And as we don’t have cameras in the vents, we will need to send agents into the vents in order to find Agent Cerberus. We will also set up agents at the local vents in a widening area, so if we flush him out, we will be able to restrain him. If you see Cerberus, he is NOT to be harmed. Is this understood?”

The agents standing around the table nodded, so the Director continued on with his instructions.


	26. 23

About ten minutes later, West found herself crammed into a tiny vent, stuck behind Carolina and stuck in front of Erith, who was complaining vigorously. When they had been chosen to be the ones entering the vents in order to find Cerberus, Erith had protested to no avail. It turned out that she hated entering anything like that, just as much as West did. The medic had just resigned herself to her fate, deciding to focus on finding her friend. Carolina had just sighed – worriedly, though she’d never admit that – before nodding in acceptance. 

Everyone else had been split into pairs, and had been placed around the air vent openings. They were in pairs, so if they were attacked, they would be able to restrain Cerberus. West had stressed the importance of finding Cerberus, as considering his mental state, he could either be a danger to others or himself. 

The medic sighed as she wiggled along the metal vent. “Carolina, if you make me do this ever again, I will fucking end you.”

Erith grunted in agreement, while Carolina gave a short laugh. “Was that a threat, West?”

“No, it was just an exaggerated response to an undesirable situation- yes, it’s a goddamn threat!” West growled as she collided with Carolina’s behind, causing the cyan agent to give a shout of panic in response. They were in such a small space that when West crashed into Carolina, she brought her head up accidently. 

“West! Watch where you’re going!” 

“Sorry, sorry! Shit, this is such a pain.”

“You’ve got that right. We’re never going to be able to catch Cerberus in here.” Erith grumbled from behind West. West sighed in agreement. This was going to take a while.

 

Nearly half an hour later, and they were no closer to finding Cerberus than they had been at the start. The three agents in the vents had been forced to split up, so West was crawling down a vent by herself now. At least she didn’t have to worry about crashing into someone’s ass. 

They were still maintaining constant radio contact, but from what West could gather, the others weren’t having any luck either. West swore under her breath. Cerberus could be anywhere in the ship by now! 

“West, come in, over.” North’s voice came over the radio in her helmet. The medic paused. Had something happened?

“North, what’s the problem? Have you seen Cerberus?”

She could hear the blond sigh over the radio. “No, not yet. Caboose just injured himself, trying to get into one of the vents. Doc took him to recovery, but one of the soldiers just injured himself. Can you come to Recovery? I’m with him now.”

“I’m on my way.” The medic sighed before Zeta popped up at her shoulder. 

>>What do you need, West?>>

“Where’s the closest exit? I need to get to the med bay.”

>>Understood. Give me a moment…>>

The AI paused, checking the map of the ship.

>>To reach the closest exit… head twenty metres down, turn left, before heading another fifteen metres. It should be on your right.>>

The medic smiled. “Thanks, Z.”

>>Will you need any assistance when treating Caboose?>>

“No, I should be fine. But thank you, Z. I’ll ask if I need anything.”

A few minutes later, she had reached the vent. Kicking it open, she swung herself to the ground as the vent was sitting about a metre and a half up the wall. The sign on the far wall indicated that she was near the training hall, which wasn’t too far from Recovery. Good.

North was standing outside the med bay when West rocked up. He smiled at his friend, nodding to the door. “Doc bandaged his arms, but he said something about disinfectant?” 

The medic nodded. “Right, okay. You going to come in?”

The blond waved, shaking his head. “I’ve got to get back to my post. I’m only here because Church was whinging about Caboose being too hyper, even when injured. I’ll never understand how those two get along…”

West laughed. “I think it’s more of a one sided friendship, North. But thanks for bringing him.”

“No problem, West. I’ll see you later.”

 

“Miss Medic! Doc said you’d come to bandage me up! Like a mummy!” Caboose was squirming and fidgeting on one of the bunks, a wide, joyful smile on his face. West chuckled, shaking her head. That kid got excited about everything. 

“Hey, Caboose. How are you feeling?”

“My arms hurt, but I’m feeling better now that you’re here! Will we get to play doctor?”

The medic smiled, shaking her head. “Maybe later, Caboose. I’m just going to bandage your arms up again, okay? Then I’ll give you something to help with the pain. That sound like fun?”

“Yeah!”

Walking over to the supply cabinet, she grabbed a couple of roller bandages, saline tubes, gauze and adhesive dressing. Sitting down on the bed opposite from the blue agent, the man in question presented his arms enthusiastically. Unwrapping the bandages, she inspected the man’s injuries. They weren’t really that severe; just a few, short lacerations along Caboose’s forearms. They didn’t look to be that deep, asides from one laceration running along the outside of his right arm. It looked like he’d almost tried to punch through metal grate of the air vents. 

It didn’t take too long to treat; a quick wash and a few adhesive dressings, and Caboose was all done. She bandaged his arms up, just to be sure. “Thank you, Miss Medic!”

“That’s no problem, Caboose. I’ve just got to make a quick radio call, but I’ll be back in a minute or two, okay?”

“Okay!”

Stepping outside Recovery, West opened a com line to Carolina, who West assumed was still in the vents. The medic figured that she would be the next best person to ask what to do, since West had no intention of asking the Director for instructions. “Carolina, come in, over.”

“This is Carolina, over. What do you need, West? How’s Caboose?”

“Caboose is fine, Carolina. His injuries weren’t too serious, but do you want me to monitor him?”

“Go ahead. Isn’t that your call thought?”

“…Fair point. I’ll make sure he doesn’t injure himself any further. Thanks Carolina.”

“No problem, West.”

Back inside the med bay, West found Caboose beaming at her, still sitting in the same spot he had been before. She supposed that was good; she had heard plenty of stories from the other agents about how quickly Caboose could get distracted and how quickly he could wander off. She was honestly surprised that he was still in the med bay.

“Miss Medic, how was your call? Was the scary lady in a good mood?”

West smiled, slightly. “Yeah, she seemed alright. How are you, Caboose? How did you do this to yourself?”

The blue agent rocked back and forth on the bed, seemingly trying to remember. West wasn’t really sure. It was a bit hard to tell with Caboose. “Well, I thought I saw Cerberus playing in the vents. I wanted to play too, so I tried to get into the vents, but I ended up giving myself a boo-boo. Church was really mad…”

“I’m sure Church was just worried, Caboose. And, I’m sure we’ll find…” The medic trailed off, just as she noticed Caboose chewing on something that seemed to be leaving crumbs all over the bed and Recovery floor. “Caboose, what are you eating?”

“Cookies!”

“And where did you get those cookies?”

“Cerberus gave them to me! I think N made them… do you want one, Miss Medic?”

West had to pause for a few seconds for that information to register. “Wait. Cerberus gave you those cookies?”

“Yep!”

“He was here.”

"Yep!"

“In Recovery.”

“Yep!”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake!”

Caboose pulled a face as West jumped up. “That’s a bad word, Miss Medic.”

West waved absentmindedly while she ran to the door in order to make another call. “Sorry Caboose! I need a few more minutes. I’ll be back in a sec!”


	27. 24

“And you’re sure, THAT’s what Caboose said?” Carolina leaned on her hip, giving the medic a sceptical look. The medic sighed, running a hand through her hair.

“Yes, that’s what Caboose said! I heard him very clearly, and I don’t know how Caboose got a hold of N’s cookies from within the med bay. I don’t usually keep food in Recovery or my own med bay.”

The cyan agent sighed. “Okay, but how does that help us? At least we know he’s in the area…”

The medic frowned, thinking. Currently, she, Carolina, and a few other agents were standing in Recovery, trying to figure out how to use this information to catch Cerberus. Caboose was still munching happily on his supply of cookies, which seemed to never deplete. She wasn’t entirely sure why they were still letting Caboose eat the cookies, since he already seemed hyperactive as it was, but she supposed they were a bit distracted at the moment. 

“Why don’t we set a trap?” Erith spoke up from her position, where she was leaning against the Recovery door. West raised an eyebrow at that, while the other agents glanced at each other.

“A trap? How would we do that?” West crossed her arms over her chest, thinking. Setting a trap might be the best possible option at the moment, since they didn’t have the speed or agility to be able to catch the currently rogue agent in the air vents.

The teal and orange agent shrugged. “I dunno. You could try trap him in here, since there aren’t too many ways to escape. Block the air vents once Cerberus arrives, lock the doors… you should be able to restrain him then.”

Wash frowned. “How would we lure him?”

Silence fell around the room, before it was broken by the sound of Caboose eating his cookies. West was tempted to face palm herself. Of course! 

It seemed that Wash, Erith and Carolina had the same idea, as they all shared a single knowing glance, before Erith stood up straight, calling over her shoulder as she walked out the door;

“I’ll go get Donut and N!”

 

A few minutes later, N and Donut arrived back with Erith, both looking extremely happy for some reason. West gave N a confused look as the purple and silver agent grinned excitedly. “You okay, N?”

The agent grinned, sharing an elated look with Donut, who returned the excited look. “We get to bake!”

“…Yes? That’s exciting?”

Donut smiled and flicked his hand at West. “Of course it is! You really need to try it sometime, West, it’s a great stress reliever. Oh! Maybe after we find Cerberus, N can teach you how to cook!”

N chuckled, glancing at her lightish-red friend. “Our calling has come.”

At that point, Lambda decided to pop up, giving her agent a deadpan look. “It’s just baking, N. Just shut up and go make the damned cookies. Jesus Christ.”

Erith snorted while N began to apologise for her AI’s behaviour. “So, how are we going to do this?”

Carolina frowned. “West knows this med bay best. Any ideas on how to trap Cerberus?”

The medic tapped her bottom lip, thinking. “Well, I can get Z to block the door, so he won’t be able to open it, and if we block the main air vents, we should be able to stop him from getting back into the vents.”

Wash crossed his arms. “But how will we be able to block the vents?”

West glanced at the gurney at the side of the room. “Well, we can always use the beds and gurneys to create a temporary blockage.”

Carolina fixed West with a sharp gaze. “But how will that do any good? Cerberus will just rip through the blockage like nothing. You saw how easily he got into the ventilation system.”

West paused, before she went over to the medicine cabinet. Pulling out a small bottle, she held it up in front of her friends. “I only need a few seconds. This should be able to knock Cerberus out easily.”

Wash frowned at the medic. “Chloroform? How is that even on the ship?”

The medic shrugged. “I found it while cleaning. It should do the trick. It’s in date, don’t worry.”

“But chloroform hasn’t been used in medicine for at least three centuries.” Carolina gave West a rather sceptical look. West decided to let Z answer that statement. 

>>Agent Carolina, most of the sedatives or anaesthesia we have in Recovery requires an intravenous administration. Chloroform will not be harmful to Cerberus unless he is exposed for an extended period of time. While we would not normally do this, the chloroform will allow us to restrain him.>>

“Have you been trained how to use chloroform, West?” Erith raised an eyebrow at the medic. 

The medic nodded. “I’ve been taught about it and how it was administered when it was used in medicine as a general anaesthetic. I’ve never used it myself, but it shouldn’t be very hard.”

Looking around the room, West saw the others slowly relent. It wasn’t much like they had much choice. Carolina sighed, but nodded resolutely. She turned to face N and Donut, who were currently lingering near the doorway. “Okay, can you guys go make those cookies?”

Donut grinned while N saluted the cyan agent. “We’re on it boss!” 

Just as they were leaving, you could hear N ask Donut what type they should make, to the chuckles and head shakes of everyone in Recovery. Carolina turned back to West, Wash and Erith. “Alright. Let’s start to block the exits. Hopefully those two won’t take very long.”

West and Wash nodded while Erith snorted. “Knowing those two, it might take either thirty minutes to three hours. Depends on how distracted they get.”

 

About forty minutes later, the four agents had finished setting up their temporary blockade. Since there were only four air vents in Recovery, they had blocked three of the four, so that Cerberus had one to enter through. If he did actually come through to get the cookies, Erith and Wash would block the vent while Carolina would help West sedate Cerberus. They weren’t entirely sure how Cerberus would react, so they were just going to expect a fight. That’s why Carolina was going to help West. They were just waiting on the bait.

“The cookies have arrived!” N announced with a flourish as she and Donut burst through the door, arms filled with carefully wrapped bags of what appeared to be chocolate chip cookies. 

“By the gods, how many did you make?!” West just stared at the mountain of cookies as Donut and N placed their creations carefully on the floor. Donut grinned at the medic.

“I’m not really sure… about three hundred or so?”

West could see Erith and Wash just face palm in the corner of the room. Lambda decided to pop up at that point to offer her input. “The cook might kill you guys in the morning, by the way. These two idiots decided to use up nearly all the baking supplies in the kitchen. Have fun cleaning that shit up!”

Most of the agents just rolled their eyes at the tiny pink AI, who disappeared back inside N’s storage unit with a short laugh. Carolina just snorted, before stepping outside. “I’m just going to let everyone know what we’re doing. Give me a few minutes.”

As she stepped out the door, West turned to the other agents. “You guys better hide. Erith, you should probably hide in the office, since your armour is the brightest colour. N, you can probably hide underneath one of the beds, Wash can hide in the storage cabinet and Donut can hide with Erith. I’ll hide in the surgery-“ The medic broke off as Carolina re-entered the room. “It’s all good?”

The other redhead nodded. “Everyone’s going to steer clear of this area until we give the all clear. Where do you want me to hide, West?”

“You can hide with me in the surgery waiting room. N, are the cookies ready?” 

The purple and silver agent nodded, having placed most of the bags in the absolute centre of the room. They had left the one remaining vent slightly unhinged. Hopefully Cerberus wouldn’t realise that this was a trap, but West didn’t think that’d be his main concern at the moment.

With a nod, everyone crept into position. West and Carolina both headed over to the surgery waiting room, while West could see N cram herself underneath a bed. The medic couldn’t see anyone else from where she was. 

Everything was quiet for a while, before the slight creak of something being undone echoed throughout the room. From her position, West couldn’t see much, asides from N and the cookies, but after a moment, she could see Cerberus creep into view. 

He was glancing around, attentively, before he scampered over to begin eating the cookies. West locked eyes with N, who nodded before sliding out silently. Unfortunately, that still alerted Cerberus to their presence, who snarled at the purple agent. West took that as her cue to burst out of her own hiding place, causing Cerberus to whip around in confusion to confront the medic.


	28. 25

“Carolina, restrain him!” West yelled as Cerberus lunged at the medic, who threw herself to the side. Since most of the beds had been shifted to the sides, West came up on her feet before jumping back to avoid the rogue agent’s swing. Carolina burst out of the surgery doors, just as Cerberus was turning to face West, where she wrapped her arms around Cerberus’s torso in a massive bear hug. 

The other agent bucked wildly in Carolina’s arms, and to get a better grip without hurting Cerberus, she wrapped her legs around his waist, their combined weight forcing the two to the ground. West could see N and Erith blocking the air vent from the corner of her eye, so she focused on knocking Cerberus out. 

Pulling the bottle of chloroform out, West yelled in panic as Cerberus crashed into the medic, having shaken off Carolina’s restraint. The impact was forceful enough that she ended up dropping the small bottle, which shattered on the ground. Shit.

“West, what’s keeping you?!” Wash yelled from the other end of the room. West jumped and scrambled back, just as Carolina tacked Cerberus to the ground, again. The medic sprinted over to the drug cabinet, where she ripped the door open. She scanned the drug labels quickly, looking for a sedative that would work quickly. 

“Sedatives, sedatives… ah, lorazepam! That’ll do.” Pulling out the tiny, white bottle, the medic scrambled for a hypodermic needle. She didn’t have enough time to properly measure the correct quantity, so she’d have to do it by eye. Certain sedatives depended on how heavy the patient was, and West didn’t want to OD Cerberus. Drawing out some of the lorazepam, she yelled out to Carolina and Wash, who had run over to help his friend; “Keep Cerberus still!”

Carolina yelled in confirmation, Cerberus thrashing underneath her. West ran and slid over to the scuffling agents, and with Wash’s help, managed to find a suitable vein. It took nearly two and a half minutes, but Cerberus finally relaxed and went limp underneath Carolina and Wash, who both released the tailed agent. West scrambled up before she dove for one of the anti-grav gurneys. Pulling it over, she lined it up against Cerberus. 

“Carolina, get him on the gurney! I need to go get a respirator, now.” She waved her hand as she ran over to the theatre. “I’ll explain later!”

Carolina frowned, and with a look at Wash, began to lift the agent onto the gurney. West shouldered her way into the theatre, where she immediately headed over to an automatic respirator that was normally used for particular surgeries. She flicked it on, and after she gave it a quick once-over, poked her head outside to check on the other agents. 

“Carolina, bring him in here. We need to hook Cerberus up to the respirator.” While the cyan agent brought Cerberus over to the beeping machine, West spoke absentmindedly, in a way both to Carolina and herself. “Lorazepam can act as a respiratory depressant. It would be unlikely to do any serious damage to Cerberus, but I don’t want anything serious to happen.”

“What if something bad does happen?” Wash frowned, worried, as he watched West attach the respirator to Cerberus’s face. West sighed. 

“Well, it’s quite hard to actually cause an overdose in a patient as healthy as Cerberus, but we can give him flumazenil if it gets bad.”

“Fluma- flumaz-“ Wash attempted to pronounce the name of the drug, causing West to chuckle slightly as she began to tie Cerberus to the bed. 

“Flumazenil, Wash. It’s used as an antagonist to benzodiazepine type sedatives.”

Carolina just shook her head. “I’m not even going to ask you to explain.”

West smiled, tightly, before she nodded and stepped back, having finished strapping Cerberus into the respirator. She’d also tied him to the gurney, just in case he tried to escape again, or somehow managed to wake up sooner than expected. Given how much she’d drugged him with, it’d take a few hours at least for the sandy-haired agent to come around. “Well, it pretty much reverses the effects of the lorazepam, but it’s a bit hard to understand if you aren’t used to working with the drugs.”

The medic heard Carolina sigh, before she turned to look at the other redhead. “I’ve got to go radio the Director. He’ll want to know that we’ve caught Cerberus.”

West nodded. “Tell him that we had to sedate him and that we had to put him on a respirator. I’ll debrief the Director’s people when they get here.”

“Understood.”

“What do you want me to do, West?” Was had crossed his arms over his chest, and was watching the medic carefully. West sighed. She was too tired for this shit.

“You can help Erith, N and Donut clean up the med bay, I guess. I’ve got to monitor Cerberus. Oh, could you let Doc know that I had to sedate Cerberus with lorazepam? Can you remember that?”

The blond agent nodded, giving his friend a tight smile. He made his way over to the theatre door before he paused, turning back to the woman. “It’ll be okay, West.”

West watched him go, running a hand through her hair. She really didn’t know what would happen to Cerberus, or even if he would recover. She’d never been in a situation like this before. 

And that scared her. It really did.


	29. 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, just another short chapter. I've had a bit of a writer's block recently, and I've just gotten out of hospital from having my tonsils out. I've edited this myself - and my painkillers are pretty strong - so if I've made a mistake, don't be afraid to tell me!   
> Thanks,   
> Catherine

“West!” 

The medic lifted her head as someone called her name from Recovery’s entrance. It had been a few days since they had managed to recapture Cerberus, and the Director’s men had whisked him away, in their usual fashion, much to the annoyance and suspicion of everyone who knew Cerberus. Everything had begun to return to normal, but you could tell that the agents were worried about their friend. It wasn’t normal, how Cerberus had been acting. And it frustrated West – and by extension, Zeta – that they couldn’t do anything to help their friend. It wasn’t their area of expertise. Physical injuries, she was good at dealing with, but mental issues? She was out of her depth. 

But at that moment, Simmons was standing at Recovery’s entrance, looking both distressed and exhausted, as if he had just run from one end of the ship to the other. 

“Simmons, are you okay?”

The pale man panted, resting his arm of the doorframe before he pulled himself up to his full height, managing to wheeze out the words; “Morphine overdose!”

West paused, letting the words register, before she groaned and stood up. She figured that they’d be seeing some drug overdoses sooner or later, considering that they hadn’t recovered the missing drugs that had disappeared a few weeks ago. With a sigh, she grabbed the key to the med cabinet. West could hear Simmons waiting at the door, impatiently, as he kept tapping his foot rapidly against the tarmac floor. “West, what are you doing?! Doc said it was urgent! Hurry up!”

Rolling her eyes, the medic began to rifle through the drug cabinet before she found the small vial she was looking for, in which she grabbed it, along with a small hypodermic needle. She then grabbed a scoop stretcher and her first aid kit before she quickly hurried after Simmons, who bolted in the direction that he had come from. From what West could gather, they were heading towards the residential area of the ship, where most of the ship’s personnel lived. 

To be honest, that wasn’t very surprising, but she suppressed a sigh. She really didn’t feel like dealing with a drug overdose at that point in time. She really didn’t feel like doing much of anything, really. Zeta had suggested that it was probably worry about Cerberus that was making her feel so depressed, and she figured that he was right. 

But it wasn’t the time to think about that. She had a casualty to deal with.

A minute later, Simmons had led the medic to the women’s showers, which had a number of soldiers – both men and women – milling about, trying to find out what was wrong. Most of them parted once West began to shoulder past them, muttering and whispering amongst themselves. At that point, West found why most of the soldiers were outside. 

Tex was stubbornly guarding the door, arms crossing, dressed in full black. She was giving the crowd a nasty scowl, which made West laugh slightly. No-one in their right mind would mess with Tex, not when she looked like she would stab you with a knife if you said something she didn’t like. Doc must’ve asked the blond agent for her help. However, the medic seemed to be on decent terms with the other agent, who nodded towards the door once West stepped into view. Tex gave her a short smile, to which West returned with a brief nod.

Thankfully, most of the other soldiers seemed to have been removed from the showers, giving West and the others in the room some semblance of privacy. That was understandable, as the woman they appeared to be treating was half naked, lying collapsed in one of the shower cubicles. The door to the cubicle looked like it had been broken open - or at least the lock had, as it was lying discarded on the ground, a few metres away. West wouldn’t have been surprised if Tex had lent her assistance in getting the door, given the strength of the woman. 

Doc was kneeling next to the woman, who had been rolled onto her side, and was taking a set of vital signs. A C-cylinder of oxygen was sitting in Doc’s first aid kit, the oxygen tubing snaking around his leg, where it was attached to a non-rebreather mask which had been strapped to the woman’s face. He looked both worried and frustrated, but sighed in relief as West leant down to kneel next to him, splashing water up onto her shins. Ugh. She hated getting wet. 

“West, I think this woman’s had a morphine overdose. We need to get her to Recovery, fast.” Scribbling down the woman’s systolic blood pressure, he winced. “Hypotension. BP’s 85.”

West nodded, moving to align the scoop stretcher next to the woman, who appeared to be mostly unconscious. “Have you done a Glasgow coma scale?”

“No, I figured she was time critical. She’s not responding to voice or pain.”

“Breathing?” 

“One breath in ten seconds. I put her on the oxygen just before you got here.”

“Pulse is low, I’m guessing.”

“Yes. 53 at the moment. It’s dropping. It was 61 when I first got here.”

West swore, but nodded. That was a common symptom of opioid overdoses. “Doc, I brought some naloxone, but are you sure it was a morphine overdose?”

“Yeah, the vial’s over there.”

“Okay, I’ll administer it now. One milligram to start. If that doesn’t help, I’ll give her another dose.”

“Understood.”

With a nod from Doc, Simmons ran over, where the two of them began to manoeuvre the unconscious woman into the scoop stretcher. West pulled out the small vial she had fetched from the Recovery bay earlier; naloxone was a commonly used antagonist to opioids like morphine or oxycodone, both of which had been stolen from the med bays. West just thanked her lucky stars that she had managed to find some in the med cabinet. It would make dealing with this a lot easier. Drawing out some of the clear fluid, she measured one milligram of the drug before she secured a vein with the help of Doc. It would take a minute, at least, for the naloxone to begin to take effect. 

With the help of Doc and Simmons, the three agents managed to get the woman onto the scoop stretcher, where West tucked a discarded towel around her exposed chest in order to protect some of the woman’s modesty. Right, now that that was done, West poked her head outside, quickly, in order to get Tex’s help. They would need at least four people to move the scoop stretcher, and the blond agent nodded quickly before she moved into position.

Doc was taking the lead in this lift, and on his count of three, the four of them lifted the woman. Thankfully, she remained firmly attached to the stretcher. She was fairly thin, and West had problems in the past with thinner than normal casualties shifting around too much or even falling out of the restraints. It wasn’t a good image, if West was honest. 

With the help of Tex, Simmons and Doc, the four of them managed to get the unconscious woman back to Recovery with no drama. Once they managed to place the woman on one of the gurneys, the nurse hurried over to see what was happening. 

“Are you four okay?” 

Simmons and Tex backed off, while West looked at Doc. The purple medic nodded, turning to explain the situation to the nurse while West went to go fetch an automatic BP cuff and some other monitoring gear. West had to fetch the respirator from the theatre, where she came back to find Doc and the nurse doing a set of vitals on the unconscious woman. Doc lifted his head to look at the other medic, before he nodded towards the intimidating agent who was leaning against the doorframe. 

“West, can you do something for me? I need you to go with Tex to see if you can recover anymore of the missing medication. If this woman was… shooting up in the bathroom, others might have been doing the same.” 

West nodded. “I’m on it.”

Tex raised an eyebrow at the purple medic, who had turned his attention back to the unconscious woman. “Why do I need to go?”

The redhead sighed. “I can answer that one, Tex. If someone else’s overdosed, they may have an altered mental state.”

“So I’m a bodyguard?”

“Yeah.”

The blond agent shrugged, giving a short smile. “Right, let’s go then.”


	30. 27

“So, West, what are we looking for, exactly?”

The medic sighed as she knelt down in the water that had pooled around her feet in the showers. Ugh, she’d have to clean her armour later. Great. Currently, the two agents were back in the showers, where West was having a thorough search through the abandoned room. They’d been here for nearly twenty minutes now, and West could tell that Tex was getting bored. She was as well, if she had to admit.

Besides, there wasn't many places for things to be hidden, unless you included the lockers, which were separated from the showers by a metal wall and floors that always became treacherous when wet. West had actually seen a few ankle and foot injuries caused by people slipping on the icy floors. It was actually a bad problem. The showers took up most of the divided room, with six showers facing each other on the other side of the locker room. They also had a number of metal benches and hooks, allowing people to sit and wait for their showers. On the other side of the room were the lockers, were most of the soldiers kept their gear. The freelancers actually had their own showers and locker rooms, which West was probably glad for. Sometimes, she didn't like sharing. 

West shifted her weight back onto her knees to look at the blonde agent, who was staring at her from the other end of the room. They’d been met with a bit of resistance when West had told the soldiers in the showers to get out, but once they saw Tex standing and scowling behind the medic, they quickly cleared out. Tex really didn’t have the best reputation on the Mother of Invention.

“Well, any of the missing drugs. If that woman brought her morphine here to get high, then others might have as well. Or, she might’ve left some clue to who supplied the drugs. We need to track these drugs down before someone else overdoses and kills themselves.”

The blond woman sighed, before nodding. “I don’t think we’re going to find anything in here, though. We’ve already searched it from top to bottom.”

West sighed, running a hand through her hair. “Yeah, you’re probably right.” The two agents had searched the whole room with a fierce eye, but nothing relevant had popped up. They’d even gone through the soldiers’ lockers on the right hand side of the room! The medic sighed in frustration before she stood up, using the metal bench to prop herself up. “We can’t really do much else, except go back to Recovery.”

“Shouldn’t we check that woman’s room first?” Tex raised an eyebrow, standing up herself. 

“Well, yeah, but I don’t have her name….” The medic trailed off, thinking, “Hey Zeta, can you do something for me?”

The small, red and black AI appeared at West’s shoulder, almost stifling a yawn. West smiled. Some of her more human actions had been rubbing off on the AI, and now Z seemed to do certain actions – like yawning or running his hand through his hair when frustrated – subconsciously. It was kind of cute, if she was honest, which seemed to annoy him whenever she brought it up.

>>West, what can I do for you?>>

“Z, can you find the name and room of the woman that we brought to Recovery? Are you able to do that?”

The AI, paused, thinking. West could feel his thought process in the back of her mind, so she felt it a moment later when he nodded. 

>>If you give me a moment, I can locate her personnel file on the main database.>>

West smiled. “Thanks, Z.”

Tex chuckled, crossing her arms while she watched the two interact. “Handy.”

It took less than a minute for Zeta to locate the woman’s file, which included her room, which she apparently shared with three other women. West held back a sigh of resignation. This was going to take up the whole afternoon, wasn’t it?

About twenty minutes later, West found herself with Tex outside of the woman’s dorm. Much to their annoyance, the door was locked. The two women had waited for about five minutes before considering how to get in, since the door was locked with what appeared to be a tumbler lock. They’d probably need to get a key to get in, unless they could think of another method to open the door. 

West just rolled her eyes before sighing in annoyance, which was mirrored by the blond agent standing next to her. She needed a bobby pin. “Tex, do you have a bobby pin?”

She was rewarded with a small, brown bobby pin and a raised eyebrow. Tex mainly just shook her head, giving a short laugh. “You planning on breaking in? Should’ve asked York for his help.” 

The medic laughed, bending the bobby pin in half. She’d taught herself how to pick simple locks a fair few years ago, before she got caught up in fighting in the war. When she’d been studying to become a paramedic, she’d lived in an apartment with a friend who had a horrible tendency to take West’s spare keys because she’d always lose her own. Rather than buy new spare keys, West ended up teaching herself how to lock pick, mainly as a result of being broke and lazy. It had come in handy, if the medic was honest. It wasn’t the worst skill in the world to have.

In less than a minute, the medic had managed to open the door with almost no effort. The door creaked open loudly, revealing an unbelievably messy room, mainly as a result of having dirty clothes strewn everywhere. It didn’t smell the best either, causing West to wrinkle her nose up in disgust. She’d been in plenty of disgusting situations, but she’d been a soldier for far too long, and preferred her sleeping area clean. It seemed Tex shared the same sentiments, as West caught her pulling a repulsed face as she kicked a pair of dirty knickers on the ground with her boot.

It wasn’t the biggest room in the world, and mainly just consisted of two bunks pushed up against opposite walls with four footlockers shoved under the beds, with a lonely cabinet sitting in the corner, cluttered with a fair amount of junk. It was at times like this that West was glad that she was a freelancer and not a soldier like the women in this room. At least she didn’t have to share her living space with others. She’d had enough of that in the past.

Asides from that, it seemed like there could be plenty of places for her medications to hide. And, since this was a shared space, there was a high possibility that some of the other women in the room could’ve come into contact with her drugs. West looked up to share a glance with Tex, who nodded.

“Let’s get to work.”


	31. 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone,   
> I'm so sorry for taking so long to get this next chapter out, but I've been dealing with some family problems at home and it's been pretty rough, but we're getting through it.  
> I hope you all enjoy this chapter!  
> As a little backstory into West's character, she's essentially based on me, at least in the medical sense ^^"  
> A fair amount of the medical content in this is drawn directly from my own experiences and general knowledge, as I'm a volunteer for a first aid organization back home and I'm an aspiring paramedic.  
> Thanks for reading my story,  
> Catherine

West frowned, before she ran a hand through her hair. She really couldn’t help it; it seemed to be a reflex of some sort, similar to someone sticking their tongue out when concentrating. Then she sighed. 

She had no idea where to begin! 

She had to say, the room was so messy that she didn’t know where to begin looking for the missing medication. Ugh. Tex looked at the medic from the corner of her eye before she chuckled and patted the medic on the back. “You can take the left; I’ll take the right? Sound good?”

West smiled sheepishly before she moved towards the set of bunk beds on the left. “Give a yell if you see anything suspicious. Morphine and ketamine are usually found as liquids, but oxycodone can be seen as a liquid or tablets. The morphine that lady had still had the labels on, but they might’ve removed the labels for the other drugs.”

“Got it.”

Moving over to the left, West began to inspect the messy bunk beds. She was going to give them a quick once-over, just in case something happened to have been left out in the open. The medic doubted that illicit medications would be left carelessly out in the open, but then again, a woman had just overdosed in a public shower. It didn’t really scream ‘being careful’ to the redhead.

Raking the beds over with a critical eye, the medic shook her head. Nothing. But, if she was honest, the bed was too messy to really know if anything was truly out of place. Well, okay. If that was the case, she’d touch down the bottom bed first. Taking all the discarded clothing off the bed, she dumped the singlets and shorts on the ground unceremoniously before she began to run her fingers over the mattress, feeling for anything unusual. It was like checking a casualty during a secondary survey. West shook her head and chuckled. Of course she’d link this back to medicine. 

And initial inspection of the first mattress revealed no hidden secrets. Alright. Dropping to the ground, West grunted slightly as she pulled out the two footlockers that had been crammed underneath the bed. The medic poked her head underneath the bed’s metal frame, figuring that she’d check if anything had been taped or hidden in the metal frame of the bed. Annoyingly, the bed was just low enough to allow her head to fit underneath, but nothing else. Her armour was too wide to fit, but she managed to wedge her shoulder’s flashlight underneath the frame, allowing the medic to illuminate the shadowed area. 

From what she could see, there was nothing hidden, but she attempted to run her fingers in any areas that were still obscured in shadow, just to make sure that she wasn’t missing anything. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. She had found a small, metal key, that the medic assumed was for the footlockers. The medic had a habit of being meticulous. In her occupation, if the medic wasn’t extremely thorough, people could die, and that wasn’t an exaggeration. 

No, still nothing. With a sigh, the medic pulled her head out from under the bed. Well, she would check underneath the mattress now, just in case anything had been hidden underneath. Hefting the thin mattress up, she leant the slightly stained bed against the wall, before she began to check for any hidden items. No, nothing here either. 

The medic sighed in frustration. She knew that she needed to be patient, but having to go over every single, little detail, just in case it concealed some of her stolen medication was a bit grating. She guessed it couldn’t be helped, but it was still aggravating. 

After going over the lower bed and its metal frame, and being satisfied that there was nothing hidden, West turned her attention to the footlockers in front of her. They did appear to be locked, but the key that the medic had found was a perfect fit, clicking the faded, light-green lid of the container open. Everything seemed to be in almost perfect order, a fairly stark contrast to the mess of the room around the medic. The footlocker mainly just contained clothes, neatly folded. A quick, careful search revealed nothing out of the ordinary, and satisfied with her search, the medic closed the lid.

Annoyingly, but not unexpectedly, the same key did not open the second footlocker. Less annoyingly, however, was the fact that the owner of the second footlocker apparently copied her roommate in terms of hiding her keys, and the respective key was hidden underneath the metal frame of her bed. 

“Tex, I think the keys for your footlockers will be underneath the metal frames of the beds.” The medic turned her head slightly towards the other agent, who was checking the mattresses of the other bunks. The blonde agent grunted in response, clearly focused on her own search. 

Shaking her head with a slight smile, the medic turned her own attentions back to the second footlocker, opening the lid with an audible click. The lid creaked loudly when she opened it, revealing much of the same; clothes and personal items. The medic scowled slightly, but began to search through the green footlocker, rifling through the pile of folded clothes first.

A slight crinkle of plastic caught her attention, causing the medic to frown. She had just shifted a white, regulation shirt, when she had heard the noise. West picked up the white shirt carefully, cautiously. She wasn’t entirely sure what she had found, but as she pulled the small, plastic bag out of the shirt, she knew it was nothing good.   
West wasn’t entirely sure what she was looking at. She was holding a small, plastic package, with a number of small, translucent crystals nestled at the bottom. 

Well, she wasn’t being entirely honest. The medic had a fairly good idea of what she was holding, but there was no way of determining anything specific until she could have the crystals analyzed. The redhead sighed. Recovery wasn’t equipped for dealing with illegally made drugs. Overdosing on medication was one thing, but overdosing on illicit drugs was a whole other ballpark. 

With a sigh, West turned to the armored agent next to her. “Tex. I found something.”

The blonde’s attention was on the medic almost instantly, peering at the woman curiously. “What did you find, West?”

The redhead frowned, forehead creasing. “I think…” The woman paused, and if anything, her frown deepened. “Well, I reckon someone else on the ship made this. I don’t think it’s from any of the med bays.”

“Are you sure?”

The medic nodded. “I’ll have to double check with Doc, but I’m pretty certain. We should finish up searching. I need to get this back to Recovery.”

Tex smiled slightly, tossing her head towards the closed door. “I can finish up here, if you want. You can get those tested and I’ll radio you if I find anything else.”

West nodded, sighing. This was not going to end well, if someone was making drugs on board the ship. She grinned slightly at the blonde. “Thanks Tex. I really appreciate your help.”

“No problem, West.”


	32. 29

Exiting the woman’s room, West tucked the small package into a compartment located on the right leg of her armour. At least, it could stay there until she could get the mystery drugs someplace safe.

>>West, I don’t understand. What is ‘ice’?>>

The medic blinked. She’d almost forgotten that Zeta could see her thoughts. West chuckled as she made her way back to Recovery. She’d gotten so used to the AI’s presence that she hardly noticed it when the red and black AI began trawling through her thoughts. Interesting. 

“Z, ice is a colloquial term for crystal methamphetamines, mainly because it looks like, well, ice.”

>>You’ve had experience with ‘ice’ before, haven’t you. You recognised it.>>

It was a statement, not a question. West laughed sheepishly, touching the back of her head absentmindedly. She wasn’t entirely sure why she was suddenly sheepish, but she did have a fair amount of experience with the drug. Not from use, mind you, but her home city was notorious for the abuse of the drug. The medic had grown up amongst reports of meth fuelled violence and crimes that were surprisingly commonplace. It didn’t help that a friend of hers worked at one of the major hospitals as an ED nurse, and as result, had plenty of stories of aggravated patients that were high on meth or other drugs. 

“Yeah, it was a pretty common drug back home. We saw a lot of meth related accidents when I was on-road.” The medic sighed. Those cases were never, ever fun. 

>>On-road?>>

“Yeah. When I was doing my paramedic course, you would go out on calls. I guess ‘on-road’ is just slang for ‘out in the ambulance.’”

>>Was it… fun?>>

West cracked a smile at that. “Yeah, I guess it was. But let me tell you, you can’t change stupid. And humans are always stupid. That never, ever changes.”

>>Like when Grif got his hand stuck in the cookie jar?>>

“…Yeah, pretty much.” After a pause, the medic laughed, running a hand through her hair. “I’ll tell you a few stories once we get this whole mess sorted out. I’ve seen some stupid injuries.”

>>Such as?>>

The medic snorted, sidestepping in the corridor to avoid a number of soldiers who saluted quickly before hurrying on their way. “Well, I once treated a lady who would give her son Ventolin when he was having trouble breathing – induced by exercise – and who had never gotten him tested for asthma.”

The disbelief was almost tangible as Zeta paused to process that.

>>They gave him Ventolin, but he didn’t have asthma?>>

“Well, his mum never got him tested. He wasn’t even having trouble breathing when his parents brought him in!”

>>…Really?>>

The medic just shook her head, laughing slightly at her AI’s incapability to understand her past casualty’s actions. “People will always be stupid. Although, when I usually tell that story, people give me strange looks…”

Zeta’s hologram just shook his head, just as West reached the door to Recovery.

>>Humans are so strange…>>

The medic snorted. “I know, Z, I know.” 

Striding into Recovery, the medic acquired a few odd looks from Doc and the other casualties in the room, probably due to the fact that Z had disappeared and she was apparently talking to herself.  
Apparently Lambda pulled the same trick with N, but had more of an aim of making the brunette look stupid rather than the AI being shy or retreating in order to think.

The OD casualty was still in the same position as she had been since West had left with Tex, and had been hooked up to some of the more important equipment such as the respirator in order to maintain her breathing. A curtain had been drawn partially across her gurney, and from what the medic could see, the Nurse was monitoring the lady’s vitals, just in case they did a nose dive. 

All seemed to be well though, as the surgeon was nowhere to be seen and Doc was providing aid to a few soldiers and what appeared to be a kitchen worker with a number of lacerations on her palm.  
Nodding to Doc, the medic stalked over to the office, opening the door with a creak. They didn’t have the proper equipment to analyse the crystals she had found – no need, she supposed – so the medic guessed that she would have to send them off to the science division of the ship.

The women grumbled, scowling at nothing in particular as she picked up the communicator that sat on her desk. This was going to be such a pain to chase down. She’d probably have to notify the Councillor, since the medic had a feeling that she probably wasn’t the person the Director wanted to see at the moment. Clicking the radio on, she called Simmons. He was probably one of the smartest crew members she knew, so she had no doubts that the red soldier would be able to help her.

There was a slight pause and a crackle of static before the line opened, allowing West to hear someone in the background arguing. It was a bit hard to tell who it was, but judging by the tone and the topic of sneaking away to have a nap, she assumed it was Grif. Honestly, she wasn’t entirely surprised. The two of them were pretty much inseparable anyway.

“… No, Grif, go away! I can’t have a nap! I’ve got to get this work done for Sarge, and then I’ve got to file a repair form for that tank you broke-“

“Hey, that wasn’t my fault! I was sneaking into the garage to see if I could find a place to sleep when I saw Caboose with that tank of his, and I figured ‘well, I don’t want to be run over again, do I?’ so I was trying to keep Caboose away from the tank, because, you know how destructive he is, and well, one thing led to another.”

The medic rolled her eyes, listening to the commentary. “Simmons?”

“And another thing-“

“Simmons! I don’t mean to interrupt you two, but do you have a second?”

“Oh! West, of course. What can I do for you?”

“Well, Tex and I searched that soldier’s room and I found a few suspect items. Crystals of some sort. I’m not sure entirely what they are, but is there any chance of finding that out?”

“Well, we could do a gas chromatography, find out some of the specific compounds – crystals, you say? Are they soluble in water? We might be able to use some of the equipment in the labs, sure-“

West heard Grif groan over the radio. “Jeez, you guys are so boring. I’m going to go try raid N’s ‘secret’ food hoard. Later.”

There was a slight pause before the medic thought she heard Simmons mutter something under his breath. She wasn’t entirely sure what he said, but it sounded like ‘N has a secret hoard of food?’ crossed with ‘of course he’d go do that.’

“Simmons?”

“Oh! Yes, sorry West. Well, if you send them over to me in the pneumatic duct, I can get onto that right away.”

West rubbed one of the bags under her eyes. “Actually, I’d rather come over there myself. I want to find out what these crystals are as quickly as possible so I can let the other Agents know.”

“Alright, but why do you want to tell the other Agents?”

The medic crammed her helmet on her head, hearing the radio crackle to life. She then switched the one on the desk off before heading towards the door. “Well, if someone’s manufacturing illicit drugs on board, we’ll need to find them as quickly as possible. We already had those other drugs stolen from the med bays, so obviously, there is some drug abuse on the ship. And, I really don’t want anyone else overdosing on anything they shouldn’t be using.”

“That is fair enough. You really think we have a drug problem?”

“Yeah, unfortunately. This is going to be such a pain…”

“We’ll need to notify the Director, won’t we?” Simmons sighed over the radio.

West nodded, opening the outer door of the med bay. “Yeah. Although, I want to wait until Tex finishes searching the room and we find out what this stuff is.”

“Alright. I’ll get some of the equipment set up.”

“Perfect. I’ll see you in ten minutes.”


	33. 30

West knocked on the door of one of the science labs, only to hear a crash and someone cursing rather loudly. She then heard a number of quick footsteps coming towards the door before it slid open, revealing a slightly disgruntled Simmons. He sighed, rather dramatically, before ushering the medic in.

“I’m so sorry about the mess… I didn’t realise that Grif had left a peanut butter sandwich in my chromatograph, so I had to re-calibrate it and… ugh. He’s just so frustrating!” The auburn haired man pinched the bridge of his nose as he stepped to the side of the door. “Anyway, come in. How’s the patient?”

The medic nodded in thanks as she stepped inside the lab. After she glanced around, she decided to roll her eyes at how Simmons was an apparent neat freak, with not one speck of dust floating around in the lab. She then snorted and smiled to herself as she felt Zeta chiding her for judging someone else’s cleanliness. The woman was far too clean herself. 

 

As she pulled her helmet off, she smiled at the other agent. “Yeah, she seems fine. Doc’s looking after her now. We gave her some naloxone, so she should make a full recovery. We were lucky to get to her on time.”

He nodded, wandering over to one of the machines that cluttered his desk. “Well, that’s good then. So, yes. What did you want me to look at?”

West pulled out the bag of small, colourless crystals, before handing them to the man. He looked at them curiously, before nodded and glancing up at the medic. “This should be enough to analyse. I’m not sure how long it will take, so you may have to wait a while...”

He trailed off while tapping out a granule of one of the crystals, being careful not to drop it or touch it. Placing it in a small, colourless container, he then pulled a bottle filled with what West assumed was distilled water, before beginning to wash the crystal. West snorted, turning to the door. She wouldn’t really be that much use, and Simmons seemed to be in his own world, mumbling to himself under his breath. Well, she could probably use the equipment if pushed, but she didn’t want to interfere. So she supposed that she’d just wait outside. 

She didn’t even get to the door before her radio crackled to life in order to squawk in her ear. 

“West, I finished searching the room. I’m on my way back to Recovery now. Did you find out what those crystals were?”

The medic stepped outside to talk to the blonde agent. “I’m just finding that out now, but I’m not sure how long it’ll take. I’m at Simmons’ lab. Did you find anything else?”

There was a short pause before a soft grunt of acknowledgement. “…yeah, I found something. Looks like a distribution list of some sort. There’s a whole load of chemical formula and names on here, but I don’t recognise any. They might make more sense to you.”

“Alright. I think Simmons may be a while, so I’ll head back now. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“Understood. I’ll meet you there.”

 

Ten minutes later, West found herself back at Recovery, where she found the only people inside were Doc, Tex and the nurse. The surgeon was nowhere to be seen, so West could only assume that he was somewhere else on the ship for business. 

Tex raised her head from the sheet of paper she was holding, standing up at the same time as the medic walked in. She’d been sitting on a gurney across from Doc, who was watching the blonde agent curiously. West had a feeling that she was probably asking the other medic if he recognised anything on the sheet of paper she had found.

“West, here. Do you recognise any of these formula?”

The other agent handed the medic the sheet of paper, before crossing her arms over her chest. West looked up from the paper to glance at the woman with a raised eyebrow. “Did you recognise anything?”

Tex shook her head. “Some of the formula seemed familiar, but I don’t have the same background as the two of you. Doc didn’t recognise anything else, either, though.”

West glanced over at the other medic, who just frowned and shook his head. “Sorry. I was never really one for chemistry, if I’m honest.”

The redhead snorted, sinking down on one of the beds. “Neither am I, if I’m honest. I mean, I did do chemistry in high school, but I’m honestly not sure how much I remember.”

The other two agents fell silent as the medic turned her attention to the paper in her hands. It was true what Tex had said; the paper seemed to be a list of chemical formula and a list of names that sounded remarkably familiar. “Lysergic acid diethylamide, N,N-Dimethyltrytamine, 25I-NBOMe…”

The medic trailed off. Then she sighed. Tex and Doc looked at her patiently before the woman raised her head with an almost resigned look. “Well, I know what these are.”

Tex raised an eyebrow. “What?”

West pointed to the first name on the list: Lysergic acid diethylamide, before glancing over to what appeared to be the chemical formula of the compound. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe that these are chemical formula for street drugs. LSD, DMT, N-bomb, Psilocybin… well, those are all fairly strong hallucinogens, if I remember correctly.”

The blonde agent paused, giving West a slightly amused look. “You must have a better memory than you remember.”

The medic shrugged, chuckling slightly. “Honestly? I never learnt about this stuff in school or Uni. I always used to teach myself about drugs and the like because it fascinated me.”

“Uni?” Doc looked confused at the term. West chuckled and waved her hand dismissively. 

“University. It’s our version of college.”

“Ah, okay.” Doc nodded slightly, to himself, before refocusing back on the other medic. “Well, what do you reckon that paper’s for?”

West ran a gloved hand through her hair. “Well, if I had to guess, it could be a list of drugs that could be possibly made on the ship? I mean, there’s no proper procedure for making illegal drugs - and I don’t know why psilocybin is on there, since that’s a compound found in certain mushrooms – and DMT is also found in certain plants, but I suppose that you could create some with a proper supply of the plant-“

“West.” Tex cut the medic off, who gave a sheepish grin. She’d always tended to ramble on when started on a topic that she was quite fascinated about. West cleared her throat, looking up at the two other agents.

“Well, it’s most likely a list of drugs that can be easily made on the ship. I mean, there are some compounds here that would be difficult to make, but that would also depend on the equipment of the people making these drugs.” She paused, collecting her thoughts. “This is all just speculation though. We’d have to see if we could find any other information on this list.”

Doc exhaled. “We’ll need to investigated this quickly. Finding a list of illegal drugs is never a good thing.”

The other medic nodded in agreement. “Yeah. If something goes wrong, we may or may not have a lot of OD patients on our hands. And, well, we only have one med bay at the moment, so any increase in serious casualties will put us under some serious strain.”

Both of the medics sighed at that point, as both of them knew about the difficulty of triaging and managing multiple casualties at once. It was not a good prospect. 

“What do you reckon these could be?” Tex had spoken up suddenly, breaking the silence to point at what seemed to be a random arrangement of letters, arranged into groups of two. West paused, before frowning.

“I don’t know, actually. I don’t recognise the order, and they don’t seem to relate to the formula…” The woman trailed off, before looking up, sharply. “What if these are initials or some form of code, for the other people in this group?”

All three of the agents paused, with West considering what she had just said. Tex pressed her lips into a thin line, obviously deep in thought. The medic looked at the sequence of letters again. It must’ve been some form of code; the letters AF and SP were repeated a number of times. The same word, maybe?

She looked at the code again, pondering. She was going to get nowhere if she thought in circles. Heading over to the office, West scrounged up a sheet of paper and a pen before heading back out to Tex and Doc. Tex raised her head but came over to the bed that West sat down on, curious. 

“Got a plan for breaking this?”

West gave a half-confident smile. “Sort of? I was really just going to see if I could make sense of these letters. So, maybe if I write down the alphabet…”

Smoothing the paper down on the bed, the medic wrote the English alphabet out in capital letters, leaving a small amount of space between each letter. She then wrote the code out underneath. 

QJ DL VQ AF SP AF SP AF SP AF SP  
ES PQ BU AF SP AF SP UI SF FA FS P

She was about to start writing possible combinations of words that had two letters in them, before Tex began muttering something under her breath. 

“Tex?” Doc asked cautiously.

The blonde woman paused, opening her mouth for a second before a moment of realisation dawned on her face. West glanced at Doc before turning to look back at the other agent, who had snatched the piece of paper from West’s hands and had begun to scribble something down on the paper. After a minute of silence, the agent paused, bringing her head up to look at the two medics. She then turned the piece of paper around, before pointing to what she had written.

PI CK UP ZE RO ZE RO ZE RO ZE RO   
DR OP AT ZE RO ZE RO TH RE EZ ER O

It still looked like gibberish, but West had a feeling that she knew where Tex was going. Without saying anything, the blonde began putting slashes in certain spots, revealing the secret message: 

“Pick up zero zero zero zero  
Drop at zero zero three zero.”

The blonde then smirked triumphantly, before placing the paper down on the bed. “They really should invest in a better code. That one is way too easy to break.”

Doc frowned, pointing to the numbers spelt out in the message. “But it’s still in a code, if you think about it. What do these numbers mean?”

West paused, thinking. “Well, 0000 is midnight in army time, correct?” When both agents nodded, West continued, “So that must be the drop off time for whatever this person was supposed to be carrying. 0030 is apparently the pickup time. Or, well, the drop off time.”

The purple medic frowned while Tex scowled. “That does present a problem though,” He pointed to the message, “As it doesn’t leave a location. They must have already known the location in advance.”

The redhead medic turned to Tex, who glanced up to look at her. “Did we miss anything in the room?”

Tex shook her head. “No. And we can assume that they already dropped off their package, since we didn’t manage to find anything else, other than those crystals you found.” 

Silence fell again. That was true.

Tex then raised her head again. “We do have some leads though.”

West nodded. “The soldiers in the room. We’ll need to question them.” The medic frowned, running a hand through her hair. “This is going to be such a pain.”

Doc sighed while Tex gave a short chuckle. The blonde agent clapped the other woman on the back, before turning to the door. “Why don’t you go see if Simmons has finished?”

West gave a short smile, hopping off the bed. “May as well. You’re going to tell the Director?”

Tex nodded, and both women turned to the purple medic. “Hold down the fort, Doc?”

He just smiled, tiredly, before waving the two women off. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll be here if you need me. Have fun, you two.”


	34. 31

West made it back to the lab within ten minutes, only to find Simmons walking out the door as she rounded the corner. He didn’t seem to notice her at first, as his head was buried in what appeared to be a sheet with some form of graphical data printed on it. 

“Simmons!” The medic called out, causing the maroon agent to whip his head up to focus on West.

“Oh, West! I was just coming to find you. I just printed out the data, but I’m not entirely sure what I’m looking at. Two different chemicals seemed to have been mixed, but I haven’t been able to log onto the ship’s network, so I haven’t been able to look them up. But, yes, here.” With a short smile, he handed the medic the sheet of paper before turning back down the corridor. Calling over his shoulder, he began to hurry down the hallway. “I’m so sorry, but I’ve got to get to training! Sarge wants us all in the training room and you know how he is.”

And then he was gone, with West shaking her head at the man with a smile. Well, at least she had something. Glancing down at the sheet, the medic frowned. There was a large graph in one corner of the page, but she didn’t really need that information. Whatever had been in the crystals was of near equal concentration, judging from the graph. She was far more interested in the chemical formula printed just underneath. 

Well, she had been half right.

>>C10H15N… isn’t that the chemical formula for N-methylamphetamine?>>

Zeta piped up, sounding quite curious. West nodded, beginning to head back down to Recovery. “Otherwise, methamphetamine. Or ice, depending on who you ask.”

She could feel the AI nod in her head, processing the information on the sheet. 

>>So, you were correct. But, what is that other formula? C13H16ClNO?>>

The medic paused, before shaking her head. “Well, we know now what they were doing with the ketamine that they stole from the med bays on the ship.”

>>A stimulant with a sedative? That cannot be a good combination.>>

West shook her head, pressing her lips into a thin line. “Defiantly not. And, looking at this, both substances were fairly pure when combined. That’s defiantly going to be a problem.”

>>Easier to overdose.>>

“Yeah.”

Both agent and AI fell silent as West strode down the bleak corridor. West could feel Zeta running through treatment procedures in the back of her mind, which was oddly comforting. At least she knew that she could rely on Zeta to know what he was doing. She was more concerned about what she was going to tell Doc and Tex, and the Director by extension. Snorting slightly, she rolled her eyes, reminding herself that she would probably need to call Doc and Tex. Well, she’d probably wait a bit, as she didn’t want to interrupt Tex and the Director, and she was almost at Recovery, so she could just tell Doc there. 

The medic sighed. How were they going to deal with this? They did have that woman that OD, but they’d have to wait for her to wake up. They also had the names of the roommates of their patient, but if they had any common sense, they would’ve cleared out already. 

West rolled the thoughts around her head, deliberating. She’d probably have to wait until Tex got back from telling the Director – and there was no knowing how that could go, but the Director seemed to like Tex, so hopefully well – but she wasn’t entirely sure who was going to help clean this mess up. She’d probably need the help of the other agents to help track the soldiers from the room down; maybe she’d ask Carolina or Wash? 

Actually, she didn’t think asking Carolina would be a good idea since she was pretty terrifying when she wanted to be, and it would probably be easier to get information out of someone when they weren’t piss-terrified of the interrogator. Right. Okay. 

The medic came up to Recovery, opening the door with a quiet ‘woosh.’ Doc was in the office, apparently doing paperwork, and the OD soldier was in the corner of the room, hooked up to a ventilator. The nurse was hovering nearby, and West couldn’t see the surgeon. 

Opening the office door with a creak, West stepped inside, with Doc glancing up to see the redheaded medic enter. “West?”

Handing the sheet of paper to the purple medic, West sat heavily on the cot in the corner of the room. Waving a hand at the paper, she rested her head against the wall with a sigh. This stress would give her an aneurism, she’d swear. “Methamphetamines and ketamine. That’s what were in the crystals.”

Doc paused for a moment, reading the data, before he seemed to realise the problem that presented, “Wait, combined?”

West nodded, sitting up again to look at her friend. “We need to shut this down quickly. This could end badly if we don’t.”

The other medic opened his mouth for a moment before closing it. He then nodded resolutely, frowning at West. “We should get this to the Director. Or, at least Tex should see it.”

“Do you want me to radio her? She’s probably with the Director at the moment.” West paused for a moment before nodding. “No, I’ll do it now. This is important.” Leaning forwards on the cot, West rested her forearms on her thighs before she opened a com line to Tex. There was a moment of static before West heard Tex’s voice, talking. 

“No, sir, we don’t know –“ She broke off, West’s radio call catching her attention. “Sorry, Sir, it’s West. May I take this?”

There was the sound of a muffled voice talking back in response before Tex’s clear voice came through the radio. “Yeah, West? What’s up?”

The medic stood, leaning on her left hip as she began to walk around the office. It was a habit for her to wander and walk around when on the radio. “Tex, I got the results back from Simmons. It’s, well…” The medic trailed off, trying to think of a way to explain it that it wouldn’t sound like gibberish. 

“West?”

“Oh, sorry. Just trying to think of a way to phase this. It’s not good. Basically, the crystals were made of a combination of methamphetamine and the ketamine that was stolen from our med bays.”

“Are you expecting more drug overdoses?”

“Well, if the people producing this stuff are distributing it… yeah, no doubt. The compounds were fairly pure as well.” The medic rubbed the back of her neck, thinking. “It’s going to be really hard to treat so we need to get on top of this as soon as possible. It won’t end well, otherwise.”

“Understood. Just give me a moment to relay this…” West heard the blonde agent trail off, before she began speaking to what the medic assumed to be the Director. He said something back to her, still muffled, and Tex affirmed what he had said. 

A few minutes passed before Tex spoke to West again. “West, the Director wants this to be dealt with discreetly, so we’re allow to get a few other agents to help us. Who do you want me to grab?”

The medic paused, thinking. “Well, Simmons knows already, so we should probably grab him. Maybe Wash, North and York? Delta could probably help us as well. And Carolina, too.”

West seemed to receive a stony silence from the other end of the radio before Tex grunted in affirmation. “Understood. You may have to grab Carolina yourself. She won’t like it if I tell her.”

The medic sighed, nodding. “Yeah, alright.”

“Okay. Give me half an hour to track everyone down.”

“Got it. I’ll go get Carolina then.”

"See you in Recovery."


	35. 32

Initially, West wasn’t entirely sure where to find the cyan agent, but she supposed that she’d visit the training hall first. The redheaded agent, when not studying or revising whatever they had to learn in their classes, was almost always training. It was almost obsessive, but, to West, it seemed to be getting worse. Maybe it was a way for the woman to deal with the whole Cerberus ordeal? It seemed like something Carolina would do.

It took the medic a few minutes to make it to the training hall, and, not really to her surprise, she found Carolina training in the training hall. At the moment, she looked like she was trying to improve the speed of her attacks by using some of the training holograms that were pre-programmed into the console in the room above the hall. After a moment, West realised that Carolina must’ve kicked the Reds out of the training hall, since West couldn’t see any sign of them. Oh well. Grif would be happy then, she supposed.

Also, something that wasn’t entirely surprising either; York was there too, sitting back and watching the other redhead with a slight frown and a look of concern on his face. West had a feeling that she knew why he was so focused on watching over Carolina; she had a nasty habit of pushing herself too hard when faced with someone that was apparently better than her. If it wasn’t a way to deal with her worry, the agent seemed to use the training hall to take out her anger. Maybe something had happened between her and Tex?

As the door slid open, West stepped in to find York glancing up at her from his position at the console that sat just before the wide, glass windows. He tossed her a nod before turning back to watch the woman down in the hall. “West. What’s up?”

West gave a short smile before she came over to sit in the chair next to the scarred man. “Well, I need your help with something.” She nodded at Carolina, who had just completed another round of attacks, “And I need Carolina’s help as well.”

That seemed to gain York’s full attention, and he turned to the medic, who, after a second of watching the cyan agent, turned to face him. He raised an eyebrow, seemingly curious. “Okay, I’m intrigued. What’s up?”

The medic shook her head before standing up. “I’d rather not explain here, but I need you guys to come back to Recovery with me. There’s a problem.”

York shrugged before standing up. “Do you want me to get Carolina?”

West gave him a tight smile. “No, it’s okay. Just give me a second.” 

The man nodded, before sitting back down in his chair. West, heading over to the elevator, pressed the button. Jeez, it seemed like the last time she’d been in this elevator was when Maine had nearly thrown a pair of dumbbells through her head. Or was it when she’d gotten everyone to play footie? She couldn’t entirely remember, so the medic shook her head. She had far too much on her mind to bother worrying about what she could or couldn’t remember. The shake seemed to dispel the thoughts, and the medic nodded stiffly to herself, gathering her mind together.

The door opened, and as she stepped out, she saw that Carolina had completed yet another round of whatever exercise she was doing. The other redhead paused as the medic stepped out of the lift, before continuing with the exercise. “West, can it wait? I’m training.”

The medic sighed. “Carolina, I need your help with something. Can you come with me?”

The agent paused, causing the hologram to freeze, shimmering in the air as Carolina stepped out of the holographic ring. Pulling her helmet of her head with a twist, she fixed a stern eye on the medic. “What’s the problem?”

West sighed, shaking her head. “I’d rather not explain here. We’ve got to keep it quiet. Director’s orders.”

That seemed to catch the woman’s attention, so she nodded quickly before calling for FILLIS to turn of the training program. It disappeared with a flicker, and after a moment’s pause, both agents made their way to the lift. York was waiting for them at the top of the lift. He glanced at West briefly before fixing his good eye on the other redhead. A moment passed between Carolina and York, when Carolina lifted an eyebrow while York nodded in response. After that, both agents began to follow West back to Recovery.

 

“Alright, West, spill. What’s the problem and why do you need our help?” The second that the three of them passed the threshold of the Recovery door, York and Carolina had both cornered the medic. York seemed slightly more curious than Carolina, who stood silently with her arms crossed to the side of the entrance. 

West glanced around the room before turning back to her friends. She could see Doc in the office, and after a moment, he looked up at the sound of the door opening to see the trio. Bustling out of the office, he greeted the three. “Ah! West, I didn’t think you’d be back so soon! Tex just radioed in to say that she would be a few minutes. She just had to track down the Red team. They were in the kitchen for some reason, but I think N might be bringing Grif in for treatment.”

“Wait. N’s bringing Grif in? Why?”

Doc shrugged, moving to tidy some wayward supplies lying on top of a nearby table. “Apparently he ‘accidentally’ cut himself with a knife? They didn’t really say much else…”

West paused for a moment, considering this, before she shook her head. “Those guys are impossible…” She turned back to the agents lingering in the doorway before she motioned to the beds. “We’ll wait until they get here. That’ll save us from having to repeat ourselves.”

Carolina shrugged and moved to sit on one of the bunks, with York shadowing her. 

A few minutes later and Tex strode in through the door, with a disgruntled Simmons, whining Grif, annoyed N, angry Sarge and a concerned Donut all in tow. Simmons dragged Grif towards Doc almost immediately, while the other Reds decided to linger in the middle of the room. 

West paused, blinking, before she shot Tex a confused glance. “I thought we only agreed on bringing Simmons in?”

Tex shrugged nonchalantly, turning to face the medic. “We agreed on Simmons, but N injured Grif, so we had to bring both of them in. Donut was just concerned and Sarge wanted to know where I was taking all of his ‘soldiers’.” She waved a hand at the group. “This operation won’t be as discreet now.”

“I think you mean, it won’t be discreet. The Reds never do anything quietly.” Wash sighed as he entered, having heard the last few sentences of the medic and agent. West nodded to the grey and yellow agent, who gave a short smile to the other freelancers in the room. Tex turned to face West, raising her right eyebrow. 

West sighed, nodding at the blonde agent before moving to stand in the centre of the room. There was still a fair amount of chatter and noise, so West had to raise her voice to be heard. 

“Can everyone be quiet please?!” When the noise had reduced to a couple of grumbles, mainly from Sarge, who was grumbling about being kicked out of the training hall, and Grif, who was still whining about his hand. On a quick glance, his hand appeared to have a large incision stretching from his thumb up to his pinky finger. It didn’t appear to be deep and was bleeding shallowly, but every minute or so, Lambda would appear at N’s shoulder to give Grif a deep scowl before pointing her fingers at her eyes before motioning to his own. 

With a sigh and a shake of her head, she looked up to see the freelancers watching her expectantly, with most of the agents lounging on the cots in the room. “Well, to be blunt, we have a problem. Tex and I found some illegal drugs in one of the bedrooms of the female soldiers. Turns out that the substance was methamphetamines mixed with the stolen ketamine from our med bays.”

Her statement was met with silence until Sarge called out gruffly: “Well, what do you expect us to do about it, Doc?”

West nodded to Tex, who stood up from her perch on the cot closest to the door. “We weren’t planning on involving the Reds, but the Director instructed us to follow any potential leads that we might find.”  
“Under our own initiative?” Carolina asked rather coolly, raising an eyebrow at the blonde agent. Tex narrowed her eyes slightly, but nodded. 

“We are allowed to use whatever means that we believe necessary. West and Doc aren’t prepared for dealing with drug overdoses caused by this cocktail.” The agent nodded at West, who continued with the debrief.

“The only leads we have at the moment are-“ 

She was cut off as a crash echoed from one of the air vents towards the office. Almost whipping around, West and the other agents came face to face with Caboose, who was sprawled out on the ground, looking around with both an innocent and confused look. 

West sighed. “Caboose, what are you doing?”

The blue agent scrambled to his feet, giving the medic a bright and cheery smile. “Hi Miss Medic! I was looking for Cerberus. I know he likes to play in the vents, but he’s been hiding for a while now, so I thought I should find him! It’s like a huge game of hide and seek!”

Donut and N began to step forwards, planning on looking after their friend, when another yell rang out of the vent and a bright, cyan agent fell out on top of Caboose. “Church! What the fuck man! Watch where you’re going, fuckface!”

“You can’t blame me, asshole, when your fat ass blocks the entire vent! Whose idea was it to follow Caboose anyway-“ Church’s head appeared from the vent, helmet on, when he caught sight of the other agents lingering in Recovery. “What the fuck is going on? Why the hell are the Reds here?”

“Church-“ Both Wash and Carolina spoke at the same time, with Wash sounding wearily resigned and Carolina sounding mildly irritated. West just groaned in annoyance. Junior popped his head out of the vent a moment later with a small honk, supposedly following his father. 

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” West pinched the bridge of her nose while Tex picked up Church by the collar and Wash went to help Tucker up, “Just sit down and listen. This was supposed to be a discreet mission.”

The last part was more grumbled to herself, but under both Tex and Carolina’s stern glares, Tucker and Church sat down with little complaint. Caboose sat at their feet, playing with one of Church’s boots, which would occasionally jerk back in annoyance.

West took a breath in, exhaled, before she caught her bearings. “Okay, as I was saying, we think someone might be making and distributing illegal drugs on the ship. We think it’s linked to the robbery of the drugs from the med bay as well. The leads we have at the moment are the soldiers’ room where we located some of these drugs and the woman who overdosed on morphine.”

Church looked like he wanted to say something before Carolina interrupted the cobalt soldier, who gave a nasty scowl at the cyan one. “What’s the plan? If the suspects have already realised that you and Tex searched their rooms, they’ll be long gone by now.”

Tex grunted in acknowledgement before motioning to the unconscious woman lying in the corner of the room. “We still have her.”

“Will she wake up?” Wash fixed a searching gaze on the woman before turning to West, who shrugged. 

“We managed to get to her in time to administer some naloxone,” She received a few blank looks, mainly from the Reds and Blues, so she just waved her hand and continued on, “So we just have to wait until she wakes up. Judging by the amount that she overdosed by, that’ll be a few hours.”

“West…” Doc looked up from treating Grif’s hand to give her a knowing look. West just shook her head at him, knowing what he was referring to. He sighed and nodded, returning to bandaging Grif’s palm.  
“But West, isn’t one of the potential complications of morphine overdose brain damage?” Simmons frowned, thinking, before glancing up to look at the medic, who just scowled at the maroon agent. 

“West, what aren’t you telling us?” York gave his friend a stern look. Delta then appeared at his shoulder, flickering green under the fluorescent Recovery lights.

“I believe that what Simmons is referring to, is that possible brain damage may have occurred as a result of hypoxia to the brain due to respiratory depression.”

“English, Delta?”

Zeta then appeared at West’s shoulder, interrupting Delta’s explanation, which had already begun with a number of large words that West supposed no one knew the meaning of. 

>>Delta means that, since morphine overdoses can cause people to stop breathing, the patient’s brain may have received damage due to the lack of oxygen.>>

That caused everyone to pause, considering this new piece of information. Carolina turned to look at West with the beginnings of a scowl on her face. “West, are you saying that the only lead we may have has brain damage?”

>>Well, no.>>

“Z’s right. It’s only a possibility. We got her on oxygen quickly and administered the naloxone. That’s all we can do. We just have to wait until she wakes up.”


	36. 33

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I'm so sorry for taking so long to post new chapters; I'm in the last year of school, so I've been extremely busy recently. I initially had the first part of this chapter typed, but the computer that I had saved it to had deleted what I'd written, so I had to start again. I've also found out that I've got mild to moderate sleep aponea, which results in me basically feeling really exhausted all the time as I tend to stop breathing when I sleep. Fun, I know. But I'm going to try type this story more regularly, when I can.   
> I've also got a few plans for the story, as I've been conversing with a couple of my friends and we've come up with some new ideas.   
> Anyway, thank you for reading my story, and I hope you enjoy!  
> Catherine

It was quite hard, waiting. While West had learnt over the years that patience was extremely important, she still found it hard to be still when she was waiting for extremely important information, like what she was waiting for now. She was still in the med bay, a couple hours later, and their OD patient still hadn’t woken up. 

It was even more frustrating knowing that there was every possibility that she wouldn’t wake. While she and Doc had gotten to her in time to administer the help she needed, they may have been a moment too slow. The brain, while an amazing organ, could only last up to four minutes or so without oxygen before permanent brain damage occurred. And it was extremely frustrating, and often extremely saddening when they couldn't reach a patient in time to help. She hated that, the feeling of helplessness. She put her life into helping save others, and when she couldn't save someone, the feeling of failure was often overwhelming. It wasn't uncommon for people in her profession to feel like that from time to time. 

And West wasn’t entirely sure how long the soldier had been unconscious for, before the medics had found her. Even so, there was the possibility that she would be okay; while morphine was a respiratory depressant, maybe the soldier hadn’t taken enough to reach that point. West supposed that was unlikely, given how quickly her vitals had begun deteriorating. 

At least she was stable now, with the nurse keeping a watchful eye on her vitals as she wandered around the office and med bay. West and Doc, for the first hour or so, had given the other agents a brief rundown of what they might see when tackling this problem; what overdose symptoms looked like, what the drugs themselves could look like, and how to take care of someone who had overdosed. To be honest, there wasn’t much the agents could do without the proper equipment and training, except making sure to take vital signs and to make sure to tell West, Doc or the medical personnel exactly what had happened. 

Other than that, everyone had dispersed from the med bay quite quickly after being dismissed. Carolina had lingered slightly longer than the others, with Wash and York accompanying her, to ask West a few questions about the drug types they might encounter when tracking these people down.

“When we capture these people, we’ll bring them to the brig to find out what they know. Is there anything you can give us to help?” Carolina crossed her arms with a thoughtful look on her face. West frowned, tidying up some small vials before placing them back into the drug cabinet.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, the man that you caught. We couldn’t get anything from him, even when we were being… well, extremely persuasive. Is there anything you can give us to help them talk easier?”

The medic paused. “Like a truth serum?”

York and Wash turned to look at each other quickly before looking at their friend. “You have a truth serum?”

West shrugged, dusting her hands off before standing up straight. “I never said I did.”

Carolina nodded. “Yes, exactly. A truth serum.” The medic frowned, thinking. She did have something they could use, but it was known to be extremely unreliable. Carolina crossed her arms before raising an eyebrow. “You have something we can use?”

The redhead sighed. “Well, I have a vial of sodium thiopental. It’s been used as a truth serum in the past, but it’s extremely unreliable for evidence.”

“What is it normally used for?” Wash seemed curious. 

“Well, it’s a rapid-onset short-acting barbiturate general anesthetic. It’s otherwise used in lethal injections, to knock the prisoner out before they kill them. That’s only at large doses though.” Rubbing at one of the freckles on her neck, she shrugged. “If you want to use it as a truth serum, any evidence given or taken when drugged wouldn’t be admissible in any form of court. That’s been made well known in the past.”

Carolina paused for a moment before nodded at West. “Can you prepare it for us? We’re not going to court and we only need to find out who’s involved.”

The medic sighed, before nodded. “Try normal interrogating techniques first. If that doesn’t work, then I’ll use the sodium thiopental.”

The cyan agent nodded before turning to leave. York and Wash threw West a few parting smiles before following her out, conversing between themselves. West supposed they’d be back later.

And then she was left to her waiting.

 

It was nearly three hours later, nearing dinner, when something happened. The nurse had left to go get some dinner for the two of them, with Doc heading off with her to get some food as well. West had volunteered to watch the woman, who still remained in the same position the nurse had placed her in a few hours ago. 

She had to be shifted around constantly; a common problem for bedridden patients was bedsores, which tended to form when patients were left to lay in one position for a long time. They also had a bad habit of getting infected. Back home on earth, it was fairly common for patients to actually get infections while in hospital. Most people would suppose that that would be counter-intuitive, considering hospitals were supposed to be extremely sterile, but multi-drug resistant bacteria were a major problem back home. 

While West hadn’t seen a patient gain an infection from either med bays on the ship, they still had to follow procedures to prevent anything serious from happening. She was skilled enough, thankfully, to move the bedridden patient on her own. The woman’s stature didn’t exactly pose a problem, as she couldn’t have been more than five foot five, seemingly tiny next to West’s six-foot stature. 

They had also managed to identify the mystery woman; she was a private first class, one of the lower ranking soldiers, she’d been a soldier for just over two years, and was from a moon in one of the planetary systems towards the edge of the human-explored milky way. West didn’t recognize the name, so she assumed that it wasn’t really that important. Her name was unfamiliar too, Annie Summer, so West probably hadn’t had the woman as a patient before. But at least they knew who she was now.

However, as the medic was shifting the patient to prevent bedsores and to reduce the risk of embolisms, she was honestly considering the possibility that the woman had received brain damage due to her drug overdose. She was so lost in her own thoughts that she almost didn’t see or hear Z when he popped up next to her shoulder to gain her attention.

>>West?>>

A moment passed, before the AI tried again.

>>West!>>

That caught the medic’s attention, and she raised her eyes from her patient to her AI. “Z? You alright?”

The AI flickered for a moment, flashing red slightly. That caused West to focus her attention more importantly on Zeta, who appeared to be concentrating. When he flickered like that, he tended to have something important to say.

>>I believe the patient is in the process of waking up.>>

The medic paused, blinking in surprise, before she turned a questioning look to the male AI. “How can you tell?”

>>Both her respiration and heart rate have increased. Along with this, her nerve impulses in the reticular activating system have begun to transmit low voltage, fast burst brain waves.>>

So that meant that the part of the brain that regulated sleep-wake transitions was beginning to bring the woman out of her temporary coma. She needed to know how fast she was exiting her unresponsive state. “Zeta, can you calculate how long it will take for the woman to become fully conscious?”

A few seconds passed while Z ran through an algorithm that would allow him to work out how long it would take for her to wake up. 

>>It could be between half an hour to an hour. I apologies I couldn’t be more accurate.>>

West chuckled. “That’s quite alright, Z. I’ll just need to let Doc know that she’s waking up.”

>>Okay. I will continue to monitor the patient’s vitals.>>

“Thanks, Z. Hopefully she’ll wake up alright, but tell me if there are any complications.”

>>Understood.>>


	37. 34

If she was honest, West was slightly more nervous than she would’ve liked to admit. While she hadn’t contacted the other freelancers to let them know that the woman was waking up, she had indicated to the nurse and Doc over the radio that she was beginning to regain consciousness. Both personnel had rushed back to the Recovery bay, dumping their trays of food in the office before preparing themselves. 

“West, when did Zeta say the patient would wake up?” The nurse was looking rather concerned, checking the woman’s vitals. 

“Between half an hour to an hour. He couldn’t be more specific that. All good?”

The nurse nodded, indicating that her vitals were fine, while Doc sat on one of the bunks, tapping his foot on the ground nervously. “And you haven’t told the others?”

West shook her head. “No. You know how Carolina can get when she’s angry or on a mission. I didn’t want to alarm the patient.”

Doc nodded, returning to stare at the patient, drifting into his own thoughts. It was at that point that there was a slight shifting from the bed. Not much, but enough to catch the attentions of the medics and nurse. It was followed by a soft grunt and a long, slow, exhale. The respirator had been removed a little while ago, as the woman was capable of maintaining her own airway. 

The nurse moved from the foot of the bed to the side, before placing a hand on the woman’s shoulder and another on her hand. “Private Summer, can you hear me? Open your eyes or squeeze my hand once if you can.”  
There was a moment of concentration, with the nurse frowning, before she glanced up at West and Doc, giving a short nod. That was good. It meant that she could hear them. With her eyes fixed on the soldier’s face, West noticed that her eyelids flickered briefly, seeming to open slightly before falling shut again. The woman was probably extremely fatigued. It wasn’t unheard of in overdose cases.

West moved to the opposite side of the bed, bending over slightly so if the woman opened her eyes, she would be in her field of view. She then began to explain what had happened. “Private, you are in Recovery. Do you understand?” There was a brief nod from the nurse, who had apparently had her hand squeezed. West nodded and continued. “We’re going to ask you about what you remember. Can you squeeze the nurse’s hand once for yes and twice for no?”

The nurse nodded and held up one finger. She seemed concerned though, and West could guess why. “West, she just woke up. She might be too disoriented to answer questions properly.” 

The medic sighed, nodding. “I know, but she might be more compliant now than when she’s fully conscious. We’ll take note of what she agrees to now,” West nodded to Doc, who had a pen and paper clutched in his hands, “and we’ll compare those answers to what she says later.”

There was a moment’s pause before the nurse nodded. West bent down to the patient again. “Do you remember what happened to you?”

The nurse held up two fingers. That was a no.

“Do you know your name?” They had actually told her – well, her last name at least - but if she said no, it would indicate to them that something may have been wrong with her brain. The nurse held up one finger. Yes.  
“Do you know your rank and serial number?” One finger was raised. 

“Do you regularly take morphine?” That gained a glare from the nurse, who gave West a slightly disbelieving look. That question might’ve been a bit too difficult. The look from the nurse degenerated slightly when she held up one finger, which Doc quickly noted. 

“Does anyone else you know take drugs?” 

“Aren’t these leading questions, West?” That question pulled an annoyed glare from the nurse, but she did end up holding up one finger. “You know she might just be squeezing at random.”

The medic sighed. “I know, but we have to give this a shot. Besides, she’s only been squeezing once or twice at most, right?” The nurse nodded, so West continued, “So that means that either she does understand our questions, or is too weak to squeeze more than that. Actually…”

The medic bent down closer to the patient. “Annie, can you squeeze six times for me?”

The nurse paused for a moment, counting, before she nodded with a sigh. “That’s six.”

“So she does understand.”

“… Fine, let’s get on with the questions.”

West nodded, resolving the minor conflict, before she pulled up a list of the women that the patient shared a room with. They’d obtained the list earlier when waiting for the woman to regain consciousness. “Summer, I’m going to read out to you a list of names. Squeeze once if you recognise these names. Okay?”

There was a short pause, and the nurse held up one finger. West took that as a cue that she understood. If the woman recognised the names that they were reading to her, then the patient could possibly help them locate the women or determine who were involved. 

“Alright. Cathy Johnson.”

One finger. She recognised the names. That was good. 

“Linda Harris.” 

One more finger. West nodded. There was one more name, and then they could start asking her whether her roommates were involved with her drug abuse. 

“Alright, last name. Shelby King.”

The nurse paused for a moment before pulling away and nodding. “She recognised all three, apparently.” 

West turned back to the bed before a number of loud footsteps echoed outside of the Recovery corridor. The medic grumbled, glancing towards the door, just as it slid open. What now?

It was Carolina, and she looked considerably dishevelled, hair falling out of her normally precise ponytail. West frowned as the freelancer stalked towards her, but she appeared more worried than anything else, judging by her hunched shoulder and concerned expression. 

“West, grab a first aid kit.” 

West looked at the nurse and Doc confusedly before turning back to look at Carolina. When the medic didn’t move, the agent sighed impatiently, glaring. “Now, West!”

The medic shrugged but quickly grabbed the already packed first aid kit that was lying near the opened door. She had decided to have a pre-packed kit ready at all times, just in case she was surprised with an urgent patient like she assumed was happening now? 

With a pause, a shrug, and a quick nod at the nurse and Doc to continue with the questioning of the patient, West followed Carolina out the door. She almost immediately had to run to keep up with the other redhead, as she was walking so quickly.

“Carolina! Bloody hell, wait up!” 

The cyan agent maybe slowed a fraction of a second, giving West a stern look. “Hurry up.”

She then took off again, refusing to answer any of West’s questions. West just had to trot along, but she was slightly annoyed at the refusal of Carolina to tell her any details of where they were going. She just had to suck it up and be prepared.

Nearly ten minutes had passed before West realised where they were going. Judging by the fact that they were near the bridge, but weren’t heading in that particular direction, the two were going to the Director’s personal quarters. Well, office really. Did the Director even sleep?

“Ah, shit. Did I do something to piss the Director off again?” West groaned, now dreading the encounter. She did not ask for this!

Carolina paused, blinking in surprise. “What? No! It’s another reason. Something more… delicate.”

“It couldn’t have waited? The woman just woke up.”

The agent shook her head. “No. Trust me, you’ll understand soon. A heads up, though; when they talk to you, you’ll be just as confused as I am.”

The medic grumbled. Great. But what was that supposed to mean, that she’d be confused?

Both agents continued walking, and they reached the office a few minutes later. Carolina paused at the door, seemingly to steady herself, before knocking on the metal frame. There were a few muffled voices inside, but nothing distinguishable. They stopped, and the door slid open with a faint hiss.

West had to admit, the Director had a pretty good interior designer. The room was quite sleek, with pale grey walls and a wooden panel on the far side. There was only a single, mahogany desk in the room, backed by what appeared to be a brown leather office chair. A number of chairs was scattered around the office, but judging by their grubby appearance, they’d been taken from somewhere else. 

The Director was sitting in the chair behind the desk, and after a second, beckoned the two in. The Councillor was standing at his right shoulder, quietly observing. They were both watching a figure that had an old blanket draped over their shoulders, and who had a glowing orb hovering over their left shoulder. They weren’t wearing armour, but…

Shock. That was the first thing that she felt. 

Surprise came next. Then confusion.

“Cerberus?”


	38. 35

West almost dropped the first aid kit, but she managed to snag the strap before it fell to the ground. It made her stagger, but she righted herself quickly under the disapproving glare of the older men in front of her. Placing it gently down, she couldn’t hide her shock at the fact that her friend was sitting across from her, seemingly okay. Granted, the last time she’d seen Cerberus was when he’d been acting feral in the med bay, so she sighed in relief before giving a short laugh.

Cerb seemed to be shivering, hence the old blanket, and appeared to have a number of healing injuries that West spotted almost instantly. She couldn’t exactly help it; she noticed injuries on everyone. He turned to her slightly, giving her a weak smile as the orb near his shoulder vibrated. Cerb glanced at it briefly, communicating mentally before turning back to West. The Director waved at her to take a seat, but West ignored him, hurrying over to her friend to drag him into a tight hug. He tensed up at first, but leaned into her armour, resting his head on her breastplate. After a moment, West pulled back to give him a short smile.

“Hey West.” His voice sounded rough, breaking in certain spots. If West didn’t know better, she would think that Cerb sounded sick. Maybe from overuse? 

“Cerb. What the hell are you doing here?” West just blinked at him, briefly, before breaking into a wider smile to hug her friend again. The Director took that time to interject.

“That was why we called you here, Agent. Now, can you please sit down?” 

West paused, giving Cerberus an inspecting look before she nodded, perching in one of the old office chairs sitting before the Director’s desk while Carolina hovered between her and Cerberus. The Director nodded before he continued; “Before any information is given to you, Agent, understand that none of what is said in this room is to leave it. You will only be given information that we find appropriate, and this will be enough for you to treat Agent Cerberus.”

West turned to look at Cerberus, who gave her a half-hearted smile. 

“Is this understood?” The Director fixed the medic with a stern gaze, who nodded. “Good. Cerberus had been undergoing a program to help him integrate with his AI, Guardian. Only us in this room are aware of it, including Agent Maine, who Cerberus insisted on informing for his own wellbeing. While on this program, Cerberus was also on deployment to a number of covert operations. It is during this time that he has begun feeling unwell. Since I did not want to reveal Cerberus’ hybrid nature to outside informants, he has been brought back here. It had been made aware to me that you have experience with treating alien anatomy. Is this correct?”

“Well, more or less, yeah.”

“Good. You may undertake an analysis of Cerberus to determine why he isn’t feeling well.”

West paused. “Well, he’d have to come back to Recovery-“ 

The stern glare from the Director cut her off. “It will be done here.”

The medic internally groaned. How the hell was she supposed to find out what was wrong when Cerberus was Cerberus? He wasn’t entirely human. She sighed, swinging her chair around to face her friend. “Can you tell me your symptoms?”

Cerb gave a weak smile before nodding. “Well, I’ve been having dizzy spells and I’ve been throwing up just recently. I’ve also,” He paused, thinking, “Ah, well, I’ve also been hungrier and gaining weight, but I didn’t think that was related…”

West felt Zeta flicker in her head briefly at that, feeling his confusion. She was probably mirroring that particular emotion, but that really couldn’t be possible, could it?

“Cerb, how long has this been going on for?”

“About a month and a half?”

So about five or six weeks. “Z, could that be possible?”

>>I… I don’t know. Cerberus has alien DNA, so that may have had some influence…>>

Everyone was looking at West with various stages of confusion, so she motioned for Cerberus to lie flat on the floor. He did so, with a number of mystified looks, which just escalated when West began probing his abdomen. She couldn’t feel anything abnormal, but did notice a small lump below his belly button. Grabbing her stethoscope, she placed the earpieces in before feeling around the area where she had felt the lump. It took a few minutes, but she eventually located what sounded like a hummingbird’s wings, with what seemed to be an echo? 

She sat back on her knees, pulling the stethoscope out of her ears. She’d have to do a few more tests – Cerb was far more along than a normal human, but this wasn’t normal, was it?

West looked up to see everyone staring at her. Giving Cerberus an awkward smile and a hand to stand up, she turned back to the Director to see that he had already come to the same conclusion that West had.

“Uh, congrats? Cerb’s pregnant with twins.”

You could hear a pin drop, or Cerb’s slightly uneven breathing. 

West pressed her lips into a thin line, waiting for someone to say something. Everyone seemed to be frozen in place, and as West eyed Cerberus, she worriedly noticed that he was turning quite pale. She reached out to steady Cerberus, just in case he collapsed or fainted, and with her help, he sunk into the chair he had previously been sitting in. 

The medic glanced at the Director, who was showing the most surprise that she had even seen on him. He was watching Cerb closely, a look of concern on the man’s lined face, and he seemed to be thinking about what to do. West figured that was understandable, considering the situation. 

“I’m… ah, well, I’m not entirely sure-“

“You’re not sure?!” Cerb burst out, looking just mildly panicked. His colour had returned to normal though, which was a good sign.

“-how this happened, but I’ll need to do a few more tests.” She paused, thinking. “How the hell is this even possible? He doesn’t have female reproductive organs!” Although that last part was more spoken to herself.

“Are you sure?” The Director was beginning to look as panicked as Cerberus and Carolina, who still appeared to frozen in shock. When West glanced at him, raising an eyebrow, he repeated himself. “Are. You. Sure.”

The medic nodded. “Well… unless you have another explanation for two heartbeats in Cerb’s abdominal cavity, then I’m pretty sure.”

“But I didn’t meet any aliens!” Cerberus was staring at the ground, at his clenched hands, before he looked up suddenly at the medic. “Or, at least, not like the aliens Tucker met! I’ve only ever-“

He cut off suddenly, clamping his mouth shut before shaking his head violently. West ran a gloved hand through her hair, which was becoming progressively pulled from her ponytail. 

“Cerb,” West gave him a look, “You’ve been having unprotected sexual intercourse?”

The Agent shook his head, again, turning an impressive shade of red. “Nope. No. Not discussing this.”

The medic sighed. If she had to take a guess, she had a slight feeling that she knew exactly who Cerb had started a relationship with. “Ah, jeez. The foetus’ have a human father. How is this even possible?”

“Cerberus. You’ve been having a relationship with Agent Maine, haven’t you.” The Councillor, having been standing silently in the corner of the room, decided to offer his input. Cerb just squeaked, shaking his head while staring determinedly at the ground, although his tomato-red face gave his answer away. Everyone else in the room collectively sighed. West was just trying to wrap her head around the anatomical nightmare that the situation was presenting. Zeta was giving both her and himself a headache. 

How was this even possible? Men didn’t have any way of carrying a child, and Cerb was a definitive male, based on what she had been able to read in his medical file. How did two embryos get into his abdominal cavity anyway? And how the hell was Cerberus able to produce two ova? How would they be delivered? Would they have to perform a C-section? Would he carry the foetus’ to term? Did they have a placenta? Separate embryonic sacs? 

West sat down heavily in her chair, pinching the bridge of her nose. There were far too many questions this whole situation raised. She then shook her head, trying to clear her head. Once she did some tests, she’d be able to answer a few of her own questions. Standing up, West turned to face the Director. “I know that you would rather not have people know that Cerberus is back on the Mother of Invention, but I need to take him back to Recovery. We have an ultrasound and other equipment that we can use to figure out how to deal with this situation.”

The Director was staring at Cerberus, expression unreadable, but he glanced up to nod briefly at West. “I… wasn’t expecting this outcome,” He pressed his lips together, into a thin line, before he resumed speaking, “You may take Cerberus to Recovery. Cerberus, you will remain in Recovery until Agent West has done some more conclusive tests to figure out how we should proceed with this… situation. Carolina, you will escort them and will make sure that news regarding Cerberus’ return is kept quiet. This will remain between the five of us, and Agent Maine, when he is told.”

“Uh, sir, Doc and the other medical personnel will have to be notified. While Tucker was pregnant, Doc helped deliver Junior. I do have experience with alien anatomy, but Doc has the most experience in this… area.”  
The Director scowled, deeply, before Carolina stepped forwards. “Sir, she’s correct. West, Doc, and the other staff work closely together, so they’ll have to be informed eventually. May as well be now.”

There was a pause before the Director nodded. “I understand. You’ve delivered children before, Agent West?”

The redhead nodded. “Yeah, back home.”

The Director seemed to consider this, before refocusing on West. “We will see if it comes to that. You are dismissed. Take Cerberus to Recovery now, and I want this kept quiet.”

West shared a look with Carolina and Cerb before she turned back to the man sitting behind the desk. 

“Understood.”


	39. 36

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone,  
> I just wanted to say thanks for everyone who's been enjoying and reading my story and for bearing with the time it takes for me to get a new chapter out.   
> It's a bit chaotic at home and at school at the moment, since we're almost in exams and my time has been a bit tight.   
> So, I hope you guys enjoy this next chapter. I know it's a bit short, but I'll try get another one up soon.  
> Thanks,  
> Catherine

The walk back to Recovery was extremely quiet. And slightly awkward, considering the circumstances. Although the walk was quite rushed due to the need to get Cerb into the med bay quickly, it felt longer than it should have. West was still running over the situation in her head. How was this even possible?

It was like something that you might not understand but still had to accept. West felt that, if she didn’t do that, she’d never be able to move past the fact that Cerb, an alien-human hybrid male, was pregnant. That had happened. She’d heard the heartbeats through her stethoscope. That was real. 

Until she could run some internal imaging scans – not x-rays, that wasn’t good for the developing children; did they even have an ultrasound unit? – she couldn’t be sure, but the only possible thing that she could think of was that maybe, maybe, Cerb had some internal female reproductive organs, and because of this, it was possible that he could produce ova that could be fertilised by human sperm. Well, while it was possible for someone to be born with both female and male sex-characteristics, it was extremely unusual and they were almost always infertile. 

How were they even going to deal with two young alien twins on a military ship? Would Cerb even decide to keep the kids? How would they even terminate the foetus’ if it came to that? Cerb didn’t have a womb, as far as West knew, so they must have developed somewhere in Cerb’s abdominal cavity, and the medic didn’t know whether the normal termination drugs would work on someone like Cerberus. Even if Cerb decided to take the pregnancy to term, they’d probably have to be delivered by caesarean, as, again, Cerb didn’t have external female reproductive organs to actually deliver children by. Bloody hell. This was going to be a nightmare.

Either way, West would support Cerberus’ choice to either keep or terminate the twins. It was his body, so if he chose to go through termination, then that was his choice. West glanced at her friend. His head was tilted downwards, and he was staring fixedly at the ground, deep in thought. She could only guess at what was going through his head at the moment. She’d never been pregnant before, and didn’t exactly have plans on doing that. 

The small group was almost back at Recovery, when West spotted Maine waiting outside of the sliding doors. While she couldn’t always understand the massive agent, she could defiantly tell that he’d been broken the news; why else would he be loitering outside of their med bay with no visible injuries? He seemed to be rather anxious, as he kept wringing his hands together and pacing next to the door. 

The moment that West, Carolina and Cerb came into view, Maine’s head snapped up, and he immediately rushed over to Cerb to wrap his arms around the male in comfort. Cerb wound his arms around his partner’s torso, clinging onto him tightly; West turned to Carolina and nodded towards Recovery’s door. The other redhead nodded, moving to enter the med bay. They’d give the two of them some privacy before West would conduct Cerb’s examination.

Almost immediately, West groaned silently, smacking her hand against her forehead. The OD patient! Ugh, she’d entirely forgotten about her! She hoped that Doc and the nurse were alright. Pressing the button to open the door, she stepped inside with Carolina, who gave her a mildly bemused look while raising her eyebrow. West shook her head. 

Inside, the OD patient was still prone on the bed, with the nurse sitting next to the still woman. Doc was in the office, head bent down. He was probably filling out the paperwork for their patient. The nurse raised her head as West came in, looking confused and mildly concerned as West strode over to her. Half standing from her chair, she followed the medic into the office. Carolina glanced at them briefly, but remained standing near the door. West hid her smile as she headed into the office. She tried to remain impassive and to seem unconcerned, but the extreme rigidity gave her away. The agent was worried. It was quite clear to see. 

“West, are you alright?” The nurse moved over to the cot, perching on the end. The medic sighed and ran her left hand through her hair. Doc had swivelled his chair to face the two women. 

“Before I tell you guys, the Director made it very clear that this… situation… would not leave the med bay. We’ve got to keep it extremely quiet. Okay?” Both the nurse and Doc nodded, so West continued on. “Well… Cerberus is back.”

You could see that information running through their heads as they processed what the medic had just said. A few seconds afterwards, Doc shot to his feet, an expression of shock plastered over his face. 

“…Cerberus is back? Since when?!” 

West held her hand out to Doc, motioning to the man to sit back in his seat. He did so reluctantly, sinking back into the office chair. “That’s not all,” The medic paused, sighed, before shaking her head, “Doc, nurse, this is going to sound impossible, but Cerb is pregnant… with Maine’s twins.”

Well, she couldn’t say that the silence was unexpected. Both the nurse and Doc stared at the medic in silence, with a vast array of emotions passing between the two of them. After about a minute of confused, suspended silence, Doc eventually spoke up. 

“How… how on earth is this possible?”

West shrugged. “I gave a primary examination and found two heartbeats in Cerb’s abdominal cavity. I have no idea how this is even possible, but that’s what I heard.”

“What are we going to do with them? Terminate the twins?” The nurse’s brow creased as she considered what West had been running through earlier. West shrugged before shaking her head.

“I have no idea. But since we have Junior on board… I think Cerb might actually choose to keep the twins. But, whatever he chooses, it’s up to him.”

The nurse and Doc sighed, before both of them nodded. Either way, they would have to support his decision as the medical personnel on board. The three of them sat and stood in silence until the nurse raised her head and stood suddenly. “I’ve got to take Summer’s vital signs. Excuse me.”

The two medics nodded, and West shifted to the side to let the nurse pass. She moved methodically around the patient’s bed, and West recognized the vacant look in the nurse’s eyes. The vitals were something that all of them could do in their sleep, so doing them mindlessly would allow for the other woman to think about the whole mess they were in at the moment.

The redhead shook her head to regather herself. She felt Zeta reassert himself, flickering in front of her eyes to catch her attention. Had he been trying to get her attention?

>>West? Agent Cerberus is coming in. Do we need the ultrasound unit?>>

West nodded, moving over to the doorway. “Yes, we do. Sorry Z, my mind was running away from me. I didn’t mean to ignore you.” She scratched the back of her head sheepishly. Zeta’s amusement and latent confusion over the entire situation made her almost laugh out loud. It was slightly endearing, she had to admit.

>>It is understandable, considering the circumstances. I’ve been getting side-tracked myself. There’s nothing about this in any of the ship’s non-confidential databases.>>

The medic sighed. That didn’t help. “Thanks for your help, Z. Can you find any explanation for Cerb? Anything in his medical file?”

The AI sighed internally, which West felt brush through her mind like a gentle wind. She could feel his disappointment too, so she could anticipate his answer before he physically spoke it.

>>No. I was unable to find anything that could help explain this.>>

It was the medic’s turn to sigh, and she turned to the number of medical machines in front of her. They had a number of machines to help them treat their patients, with some machines seeing more use than others, like the automatic blood pressure machine and the ventilator, but their old, almost obsolete ultrasound unit received almost no use. It hadn’t been until Zeta had notified her that they still had a working one that she had breathed a sigh of relief. 

Hopefully they would be able to clear up some of this mess.


	40. 37

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone,  
> I'm so sorry for taking forever to get this next chapter up. It's been pretty chaotic at school, and I've had one set of exams that I've just finished.   
> I have a plan for the next few chapters though, and I have quite a bit of free time this week, so hopefully I can get a new chapter out soon.   
> Thank you for all bearing with me!  
> Catherine

To give Cerberus a bit of privacy from the rest of Recovery, West ushered him and Maine into the office at the end of the room. Carolina attempted to follow them in, but the nurse and Doc called her back out. West shrugged and gave her a tight smile. They’d probably let her know the procedure for pregnant personnel. People would always have sex, regardless of their circumstances. While it was unusual to get a pregnant woman – they tried to provide everyone with protection to use – it did happen from time to time. Of course, Cerb wasn’t a woman, but, you know, he was still pregnant. And they hadn’t had a pregnant woman in quite a while; that was probably obvious from the state of the ultrasound machine. 

It was quite cramped in the office with a towering Maine and a clearly nervous Cerberus fidgeting near the doorway. West sighed, motioning for Cerb to lie down on the cot in the corner. Maine hovered around him, and when Cerb was lying down, West went to go fetch the ultrasound unit. It was a cumbersome, dusty machine that took up most of the space next to the cot, leaving West to perch awkwardly near Cerb’s prosthetic legs.

Plugging the machine into the wall socket nearby, West just thanked the designers of the machine for including universal plugs. If they had to find an adaptor for what seemed to be a machine nearly a decade old, she would probably shoot herself in the foot. The medic laughed slightly as she felt Zeta worriedly asking her whether she’d actually do that, shaking her head in response. “It’s a figure of speech, Z, don’t worry.”

Cerb looked at the woman with wide eyes, watching her movements as she plugged the machine in before booting it up. It gave a low groan, and a slight shudder, but the screen turned from black to black with shifting grey areas swirling across the monitor. She gave a silent sigh of relief. Good. It still worked. It was time to see if she remembered how to use it. Otherwise, she could always get Doc and the nurse to help, but she figured that she’d be able to handle it.

Turning to her friend, she gave him what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “Have you ever had an ultra sound before, Cerb?” He shook his head quickly, watching her face carefully. West nodded. She’d figured that that would be the case, considering he was male and not entirely human. Handing him a bottle of water, she instructed him to drink the whole thing while she got the other equipment ready. Getting the gel that would help reduce the friction of the transducer, she slipped her gloves on before motioning Cerb to lift the hem of his shirt up to his chest. “This might be a bit cold, sorry.”

Smearing the translucent gel over his stomach, she made sure to calibrate the machine so that the transducer was connected properly to the computer. She didn’t want to make an error when doing this, but she wasn’t entirely sure what she’d see. Pressing the transducer to Cerb’s skin, she glanced over at the machine to check whether she was getting a good, clear image. She was, thankfully, so now she was just having a look around to see if she could find the source of the heartbeats.  
It didn’t take the medic long, finding the foetus’ in the lower half of Cerberus’s abdominal cavity. She hadn’t been sure whether she had been correct in diagnosing twins, but now she knew that she was. Two black cavities were showing up on the screen, with two small, circular masses at the bottom of each. Actually, no, that wasn’t correct. When she moved the transducer to the right, the barrier between the two shifted, and after a bit more looking, she was confident that they were in the same amniotic sac. Identical twins. 

She couldn’t tell the gender of the two yet, but it was almost guaranteed that they would be the same gender. She also couldn’t tell what the babies actually looked like, since it was still extremely early. Saying that, based on how long Cerb had been away, the two were much further along in the pregnancy than compared to a human woman. At this rate, she’d take a guess and say that, rather than the normal nine months, Cerb would give birth in four or five, possibly less. 

West leaned back with a sigh, switching off the machine. That was enough for now. Cerb and Maine glanced at each other before Cerb spoke up. “West? What did you see?”

The medic glanced at the machine briefly before turning her attention to Cerberus, who was sitting there anxiously, fiddling with his hands on the bed. “Well, you’re pregnant. With identical twins, as far as I can tell.”

“As far as you can tell?”

“I’m pretty sure.”

Silence reigned as Cerberus fell quiet to process that information. He opened his mouth to talk a few times, but closed it quickly. Finally, he shook his head. Glancing up at West, he frowned slightly before moving to sit up. “I want to keep them.”  
West nodded. She had a feeling that that was what Cerb was going to decide. Maine stepped in at that point, growling to his partner, but Cerb just shook his head. “It’s my choice, Maine. And my body.”

The two locked in a staring competition for a minute before Maine relented and nodded, growling softly. West exhaled, relieved, before tossing Cerb a towel and standing up. The other agent began wiping the gel off of his abdomen, pulling a face. The medic chuckled. “Right. I’m going to go let Carolina and the others the good news.”

Cerb gave her a confused look. “Aren’t you going to tell the Director?”

West laughed. “Like hell. I’m going to let Carolina do that.”

 

A few hours later, and things had finally settled down in Recovery. Cerb was sleeping on the cot in the office; for all his protesting, West had made him promise to get some rest. He looked bloody exhausted, with deep bags under his eyes, and the medic could tell that he desperately needed some sleep. She had to pull the ‘you’re pregnant, so you need to look after the babies’ card, so he finally relented. Maine had hovered for a bit longer, before he reluctantly disappeared to finish up whatever duties that he had been doing before he had rushed over. 

Carolina had taken West’s report to the Director, and had returned an hour later to say that Cerberus was supposed to stay in the Recovery bay until they could find suitable accommodation for the pregnant agent. West had agreed to Cerb staying in Recovery; it had been quite a while since she’d seen her friend, and considering his state, she wanted to keep an eye on him. The cyan agent apparently wanted to do the same, lingering around for a little while before, she too, had to head off. 

That just left Recovery with West, Doc, nurse, and the sleeping OD patient in one of the end cots. After the nurse had finished up with their questioning, the medics had left her to rest. They’d question her more later when she was more coherent and mobile. West was just stuffing around, Doc was doing paperwork, and the nurse was giving the surgeon an update on Cerb and Summers. Otherwise, Recovery was pretty quiet, but West had the sneaking suspicion that that wouldn’t last. 

Quiet never seemed to last long on this ship.


	41. 38

It was a few hours later, nearing dinner, when their patient woke up again. West had been sitting in the office, finishing up some of her paperwork for previous patients – updating medical files and the like- before there was a loud crash coming from the next room. The medic was on her feet within a second, rushing out to see the woman, Summers, sprawled out on the floor, tangled in her bedsheets. Apparently, by the looks of it, she had attempted to get free from her bed, had gotten tangled in the bedsheets, and had ended up on the floor. West just sighed, running over to the nurse to give her a hand. You were supposed to give a little bit of leeway in the bedsheets when making the bed, to stop this thing from happening. She supposed the nurse had tucked the sheets in when making the bed so, if their patient did a runner, she wouldn’t be able to get out. By the looks of it, it seemed to have worked.

 

Summers, the patient, had flung a hand out to grab the bedside table when she fell, causing it to fall on top of her. It wasn’t that heavy, just cumbersome, mainly, and she was scrambling to lift it off herself to get up. The nurse and the medic just watched the woman as she stood – a bit unsteady, that was a falls risk – and realised that the two of them were standing there. Confusion, surprised, suspicion and then realisation flickered across her face as Summers took in where she was.

 

West saw her gaze flicking to the door, then to them, and then to the bed next to her, which was currently boxing her in. Her eyes then darted to the office, where Cerb had emerged from, to Doc, who had just entered Recovery. “Woah, hey, it’s alright. You were unconscious from a morphine overdose. How are you feeling?”

 

That question seemed to catch her off guard. She gave a jagged laugh, running her hand through her hair before looking around the room again. The woman seemed to be looking at everything except for West, but eventually, Summers’ eyes landed on the medic. They were bloodshot and slightly glazed. Her pupils were extremely dilated, which West could see from here. Alright, not great. “I nearly kill myself with dodgy morphine and you ask if I’m okay?”

 

Everything was extremely still. Okay, they had a slightly unstable woman – who was currently going through an opioid withdrawal - who they wanted to calm down. They’d have to be very delicate in how they handled this. West nodded, slowly. “Of course. It’s our job to look after everyone on board, and when someone isn’t feeling well, we get worried.” She motioned to the bed. “Did you want to sit down? We’ve got some things that can help you.”

 

Summers seemed to consider this, eyes flicking around again. She had her arms wrapped around herself, with an intermittent tremor that seemed to overtake her whole body every few seconds or so. Wow. How long had she been addicted to morphine for? She’d barely been up and she was already exhibiting symptoms.

 

She nodded, more of a jerk of her head, before sitting down on the side of the bed. West quickly thanked her lucky stars before nodding at the nurse. The other woman quickly hurried over to the drug cabinet to retrieve their small supply of methadone. Methadone was an opioid painkiller, similar to morphine, but less well known. West had made sure to request some in the last restocking of the med bay, in the event of something like this happening.

 

West sat down opposite the woman, giving her a smile. Summers refused to make eye contact, staring fixedly at the ground. West could understand how she was feeling. Most people refused to get help for addiction out of shame, or social stigma. To West, it was just a medical condition to be treated and hopefully fixed. Giving the woman another smile that she didn’t see, West cleared her throat. “Summers, how long have you been addicted for?”

 

Stubborn silence. West squashed the need to sigh. “Summers. Annie. I know you don’t want to tell us, but we aren’t here to judge you, and we want to help. This will give us a better idea on how to help you with your addiction and withdrawals. Please?”

 

Her tremors started up again, and she pressed her lips into a thin line, waging war within herself. After a minute of silence; “Two years.” It was barely more than a whisper, but West smiled.

 

“Thank you for telling us. Now, what do you want to do?”

 

Her head jerked up, fixing West with a look of suspicion. “What do you mean?”

 

West crossed her ankles, leaning back on the bed with her hands. “Well, what do you want to do? Not be addicted? We’re here to help you in the best way that we can, but there’s no point if you don’t tell us what you want us to help you with.”

 

Summers nodded, refusing to look at West. She also didn’t speak, but West figured that the addiction was the thing Summers wanted help with. With that, the nurse came forwards, brandishing the small bottle of methadone tablets. Summers watched them cautiously, eyes flicking between the two of them. The tremors were back.

 

“Okay. So, you have one of two options, Annie.” West let the nurse explain this one, since she had the bottle. “The first one is that we can give you a shot of naltrexone; it’s administered once every few weeks, and will eventually reduce your opioid – morphine cravings. However, you’ll have to wait up to seven days before we can give it to you, as it will have an adverse effect on the morphine still in your system.”

 

Summers nodded.

 

“Option two. This,” The nurse held up the bottle in her hand, “is methadone. It’s similar to morphine, and we usually give it to people going through opioid withdrawals, like yourself. We can use it to alleviate your symptoms and cravings, and will eventually wean you off of it. We may have to wait a little bit before giving it to you, but we can give it to you immediately. However, there is a risk of you becoming dependent on this, instead of the morphine.”

 

The nurse nodded, looking at West. “The methadone is a more immediate solution, but the naltrexone is easier to access and there is no risk of you becoming dependent on it. Do you understand that?”

 

Summers, instead of understanding, looked rather overwhelmed. She then shook her head, rather frantically. “I… I don’t think I could wait a week- can I have the faster one?”

 

They both nodded, and when the medic and the nurse shared a glance, could tell that this was the option they were expecting. The nurse handed the bottle over to West, before she disappeared quickly to go grab the paperwork. It had been a little bit forsaken in recent weeks, so the nurse, Doc and her had been slowly fixing everything they had missed. That was the golden rule of treating anyone: if you didn’t write it down, it didn’t happen.

 

A quick glance at the office revealed the nurse and Doc conversing, quietly, with Cerb perched behind them. The nurse quickly scribbled something down, before hurrying back out, a book in her hands. She handed the scribbled note to West – the proper dosage – before sitting down quietly behind the medic. Z checked the calculations quickly, and making sure that the drug was correct, along with the use-by date, and confident with the accuracy, gave West the go-ahead to begin administering.

 

They’d have to wean her off morphine slowly. They’d give her the normal dosage recommended for someone of her age and weight, and would observe how she reacted to the drug. If she still had withdrawal symptoms with the methadone, they could give her a slightly higher dosage. They’d have to reduce the dosage slowly over time, to give her body time to adjust. And, since she’d been addicted for so long, her tolerance to opioids was going to be fairly high. They’d need to make sure that the med bay had enough to support her through the transition.

 

It was going to take a while, but West wanted to make sure that their patient didn’t rapidly deteriorate before questioning her about the drug situation aboard the ship. It wasn’t uncommon for long term drug users to die from their withdrawals. It was honestly as bad as the overdoses, if not worse, due to the long-term complications.

 

They would also have to keep a close eye on her vital signs while she stayed in Recovery. It wasn’t uncommon for a number of different things to happen to people going through opioid withdrawal – high blood pressure, shaking, anxiety, insomnia, amongst other things - all of which would not help their already anxious patient.

 

When West was happy that Summers had taken the methadone and had not suddenly gone south, she retreated with the nurse into the office to finish their paperwork. They could see her from inside the room, anyway, and she was lying back down on her bed, trying to rest. It was unlikely she would fall back asleep, but as long as she stayed here, where they could keep an eye on her, then West was happy.

 

 

“West.” The nurse sighed as they closed the door. “We can’t let the Director know that she’s awake. She’s in no state to be interrogated about this, and I’m worried that, considering how delicate she is-“ The woman broke off, shaking her head. “I doubt she’d survive it.”

 

The redhead nodded, silently. She then sighed, and sat down on the bed next to Cerb, who was watching the conversation curiously. “Yeah, I agree. Let’s try keep it quiet for now, but…” The medic sighed again, staring off into space, “I doubt that’ll last.”


End file.
